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3   ^153   DlfibEEm   7 


aAvmon  oa 


AN 

HISTORICAL  DISCOURSE, 

ox  THK 

TWO   HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY 

OF  THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE 

HOPKINS  GEAMMAR  SCHOOL, 

NEW  HAVEN,  CONNECTICUT. 

Delivered  before  the  "Hopkins  Grammar  School  Association/* 

JULY.  24tli,   1860, 


BY  LEOKAED  WOOLSEY  BACON. 


•^IVITH     IN^OXES    ^ND    J^IST    ^FIPEISIIDIX. 


PUBLISHED  BY  REQUEST  OF  THE  ASSOCIATION. 
♦♦^ 


NEW  HAVEN : 
PRINTED  BY  T.  J.  STAFFORD. 


1860. 


Nkw  IIavks,  August  7th,  1S60. 
Dkar  Sin: 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Hopkins  Grammar  School  Association,  on  the  afternoon  of  July 
•mu,  the  undersigned  were  requested  to  present  to  you  the  thanks  of  the  Association,  for  your  able 
Historical  Discourse,  delivered  before  them,  at  their  request,  on  the  occasion  of  the  Two  Hundredth 
Annlvemary  of  the  foundation  of  tlie  School.  The  Association  also  request  of  you  a  copy  of  the 
Discourse  for  jiublication  b}-  them. 
With  sentiments  of  the  liighcst  esteem  we  are  very  cordially 

Vour  friends, 

S.  W.  S.  BUTTON, 
WM.  L.   KINGSLEY. 
n,v.  L.  W.  IlAcov  LUchfuld,  Conn. 


Litchfield,  August  23.1, 1S60. 


(iKNTi.i  mi;n  : 


The  manuscript  which  you  request  on  behalf  of  the  Hopkins  Grammar  School  Asso- 

ol.itlon,  is  very  cheerfully  placed  at  their  disposal. 

I  only  ask  permission  (inasmuch  as  the   Discourse   was  prepared  under  disadvantage,  at  this 

dislanff  from  Libraries  and  Records)  to  add  to  it  some  notes  of  illustration  and  verification, — also 

to  till  out  the  latter  part  of  It,  which  was  curtailed  in  the  delivery. 

I  am  with  great  refpoct  and  esteem, 

Your  friend, 

Li:ONAUD  W.  BACON. 

It.  V.  S.  w:  S.  Dpttos,  D.  D.,  I    V-       ir 

W.    L.    K.N..si..:v,  K,..,:,  f    ^^''^  "'^^'^"- 


HISTORICAL  DISCOURSE, 


"-  ^uob  fd\)c  iTaustumque  sit  f ' 

So  spake  John  Davenport,  two  hundred  years  ago,  to  the 
General  Court  of  the  Colony  of  ^New  Haven,  and  inaugurated 
The  Hopkins  Grammar  School  with  words  of  happy  omen. 
''Happy  be  it  and  prosperous!"  This  day  is  witness  that  the 
old  pastor's  prayer  is  answered.  The  long,  unbroken  succession 
of  learned  teachers  in  this  ancient  school,  and  the  multitude  of 
hopeful  youths  of  former  generations  here  "  bred  up  for  the 
public  service  of  the  country"  declare  it ;  and  you  whom  I 
now  salute, — students  of  the  school,  even  now  cherished  by 
this  ancient  bounty, — fellow-alumni,  gathered  to  acknowledge 
the  debt  of  gratitude  to  our  foster-mother, — respected  teachers, 
both  of  earlier  and  of  recent  date, — you  all  confirm  the  testi- 
mony. 

I  thank  you,  therefore,  for  the  pleasing  office  with  which 
you  have  honored  me  ; — not  the  thankless  task  of  deprecation 
or  apology,  but  the  grateful  one  of  tracing  before  you  the 
history  of  two  centuries  during  which  this  institution  has  been 
a  fountain  of  liberal  education, — a  fountain  which,  once 
opened,  has  never  at  any  time  through  all  these  generations 
intermitted  its  flow  of  useful  and  happy  influences.  I  have 
no  fear  that  the  source  of  such  long-continued  and  steadfast 
usefulness  will  be  the  less  interesting  because  it  is  little  recked 
of  as  a  power  in  political  history,  and  overshadowed  by  more 
imposing  objects  in  the  history  of  education,  any  more  than 
that  the  water-spring  in  a  thirsty  land  should  be  deemed  less 
pleasing  to   the   wayfarer,  for  gushing  up  in  the  shadow  of 


^reat  trees  which  itself  has  nourislied,  and  being  hidden,  along 
all  its  course,  under  the  very  verdure  which  it  quickens  and 
sustains.  A  more  serious  difficulty  is,  not  that  the  story  if 
riirhtly  written  would  fail  of  your  attention,  but  that  the 
choicer  parts  of  it  must  always  remain  nnwritten.  Of  what 
has  been,  only  such  meager  record  has  been  kept  as  was  need- 
ful for  the  conduct  of  this  unostentatious  trust.  Who  liave 
been  tlic  pupils  here  trained,  and  what  have  been  the  public 
services  thus  accruing  from  this  foundation  to  "  church  and  civil 
state"  must  be  taken  in  a  measure  on  presumption,  or  be 
gathered  by  tradition.  And  in  reviewing  the  materials  for 
the  history  of  what  has  Ijeen^  of  public  achievement  and  re- 
nown, we  come  upon  many  monuments  of  great  hopes  disap- 
pointed— upon  indications  of  what  might  have  heen  but  was 
not.  If  it  were  not  a  history,  but  a  poem,  that  was  de- 
manded, there  is  enough  in  the  recent  history,  yea !  in  some 
men's  memories^  of  the  ancient  school,  to  be  the  food  of  sad 
and  tender  imaginations.  "  The  good  die  young:" — few  of  us 
liave  gathered  at  tliis  celebration  and  recalled  to  one  another 
the  scenes  of  our  school-boy  days,  but  in  tlie  vision  of  faces 
and  forms  long  departed,  have  proved  the  truth  of  the  saying. 
If  beside  the  titled  roll  of  those  who  have  gone  from  the  dis- 
cij>line  of  this  scliool  to  places  of  distinguished  usefulness  and 
honor,  we  could  range  the  starred  names  of  the  early  dead, 
would  it  be  fancy  only  that  would  reckon  the  latter  to  be  the 
brighter  constellation  ?  The  sober  history  of  hopes  fulfilled  in 
the  two  hundred  years'  existence  of  this  school  would  be 
eclipsed  in  the  beauty  and  splendor  (if  imagination  might  be 
suffered  to  dei)ict  them)  of  the  iiopes  here  nurtured  only  to  be 
crushed  and  disappointed. 

"  TItey,  the  youuf,^  and  bravo  tliat  clioriyhed 
Noblo  lon;;iii^'s  for  tlic  strife, 
Hy  the  wayside  fell  and  perished, 
Weary  with  the  march  of  life." 

Tardon  me:  I  do  not  mean  to  exceed  the  limits  of  your  in- 
vitation. I  am  not  about  to  wander  wide  in  these  imaginations. 
Ihit  I  know  that  I  have  been  utterinor  no  private  or  singular 
teeiings  of   my  own  :— that  there  are  manv   others  in   whom 


the  name  of  this,  the  scene  of  their  boyish  education,  wakens 
np  thoughts  quite  as  much  of  sorrow  as  of  joy, — thoughts  that 
yearn  for  expression,  even  on  this  festival  day  ;  and  that  none 
of  you  whose  remembrance  of  school  life  is  hallowed  by  asso- 
ciations such  as  these,  would  choose  that  they  should  be  passed 

^^y  "  Without  the  raeed  of  some  melodious  tear." 

Let  US  turn  back  to  the  history. 

The  occasion  which  we  are  gathered  to  commemorate  as  the 
l)irth-day  of  this  collegiate  school  is  entitled  by  the  venerable 
historian  of  Connecticut, 

"  The  Reverend  Mr.  John  Davenport's  resignation  of  Gov- 
ernor Hopkins's  donation  to  the  General  Court  of  ITew  Haven, 
[June*]  4th  1660." 

The  transaction,  and  the  record  of  it.  are  marked  by  a  care- 
ful attention  to  the  dignity  of  what  was  felt  at  the  time  to  be 
an  historic  occasion.  Doubtless  it  was  in  itself  a  notable  oc- 
currence, that  the  reverend  man  who  was  venerated  even  dur- 
ing his  life-time  as  the  Moses  who  had  delivered  the  law  of 
God  to  the  commonwealth  of  His  people,  should  leave  the  hab- 
itual seclusion  of  his  study  f  and  present  himself  before  the  sen- 
ate of  the  little  republic.  Guided  by  the  portrait  of  him  which 
has  been  preserved  to  us,  it  is  not  difficult  for  us  to  imagine  him 
as  he  stood  on  this  occasion  before  the  elders  of  the  people, 
habited,  doubtless,  in  scholar's  gown  and  cap,  showing  in  form 
and  feature  the  marks  that  had  been  made  by  his  twenty-two 
years'  sojourn  in  the  wilderness,  but  wearing  still  the  look  of 
scholarly  and  saintly  beauty  that  beams  upon  us  from  the  can- 
vas.    Perhaps 

"  The  boast  of  heraldry,  the  pomp  of  power," 

would  not  have  added  to  the  dignity  of  that  scene. 

The  record,  as  it  stands  in  the  ancient  record-book  of  the 
Colony,  from  which  it  has  been   repeatedly  transcribed    by 

*  In  Trumbull  it  is  given  3lai/  4th,  and  the  mistake  is  copied  by  Mr.  Barnard, 
"  Education  in  Connecticut,"  p.  24. 

f  He  was  "  so  close  and  bent  a  student  that  the  rude  Pagans  themselves  took 
much  notice  of  it,  and  the  Indian  savages  in  the  neighborhood  would  call  him 
'  so  big  study  man.'"  Mather,  Magnalia,  I,  329,  (Ed.  1858.)  See  also  Bacon's 
Historical  Discourses,  p.  117. 


6 

historians,  is  a  copy  of  Mr.  Davenport's  own  writing.  It 
opens  with  tlie  Latin  f(^rniula  of  benediction  which  has  al- 
ready been  repeated,  "  Quod  fdix  fcmstiimquc  sit,''  and  ])ro- 

ceeds : 

'^On  the  4tli  day  of  the  4th  montli,  IGGO,  John  Davenport, 
pastor  of  the  Church  of  Christ  in  Is^ew  Haven,  presented  to  the 
honorable  General  Court  at  Kew  Haven,  as  followeth :" 

The  i^aper  goes  on  to  remind  the  Court  what  they  them- 
selves had  resolved,  sundry  years  before,  (as  appeared 
in  tlie  ])ul)lic  records,)  towards  the  founding  of  a  College  in 
New  Haven,'^— "  a  small  college,  such  as  the  day  of  small 
things  will  permit,"  and  informs  them  that  at  once  on  the  de- 
cision of  the  Court  to  undertake  that  enterprise,  he, 

—"the  said  Juhn  Davenport,  wrote  unto  our  beloved  friend, 
Kdward  Hopkins,  Esq.  then  living  in  London,  the  result  of 
those  consultations.  In  answer  whereunto,  the  said  Edward 
Hopkins  wrote  unto  the  said  John  Davenport,  a  letter  dated 
the  oOth  of  the  second  month,  called  April,  1656,  beginning 
with  these  words: 

"  *  Most  Dear  Sih, — The  long  continued  respects  I  have  re- 
ceived from  you,  but  especially  the  speakings  of  the  Lord  to  my 
heart  by  you, have  put  me  under  deep  obligations  to  love,  and 
a  return  of  thanks  beyond  v/hat  I  have  or  can  express,'  [&c. 
Then  after  other  passages  (which  being  secrets  hinder  me  from 
shewing  his  letters)  he  added  a  declaration  of  his  purpose  in 
rfference  to  the  college  about  which  I  wrote  unto  him.]  '  That 
which  the  Lord  hath  given  me  in  those  parts,  I  ever  designed, 
the  greatest  part  of  it,  for  the  furtherance  of  the  work  of 
Christ  in  those  ends  of  the  earth,  and  if  I  understand  that  a 
college  is  begun  and  like  to  be  carried  on  at  New  Haven,  for 
the  good  of  ])osterity,  I  shall  give  some  encouragement  there- 
unto.' These  are  the  very  words  of  his  letter.  But  before 
Mr.  Hopkins  could  return  an  answer  to  my  next  letter,  it 
pleased  God  to  finish  his  days  in  this  world." 

•  Concerning  thcso  early  elTorts  toward  the  founding  of  a  'College,  see  below, 
p.  22.     AUo  Stilcs'H  History  of  Three  of  the  Judges  of  King  Cluirles  I,  39,  40. 


The  communication  then  announces  to  the  General  Court, 
that  Governor  Hopkins  by  his  last  will  had  bequeathed  his 
estate  in  'New  England  to  trustees  of  whom  Mr.  Davenport 
was  one,  to  be  disposed  of  "  unto  the  public  uses  mentioned ;" 
and  that  it  had  been  agreed  by  the  trustees  that  one  half  of 
the  estate  whicli  should  be  gathered  in,  should  be  paid  unto 
Mr.  Davenport  for  IS;  ew  Haven. 

Mr.  Davenport  adds  that  the  other  trustees  had  assented  to 
his  declared  purpose  of  interesting  tlie  honored  magistrates 
and  elders  of  this  Colony  in  the  disposal  of  that  part  of  the 
estate  which  was  to  be  here  expended,  "  for  the  promoving 

the  college  work  in  a  gradual  way so  far  as  he 

might  with  preserving  in  himself  the  power  committed  to  him 
for  the  discharge  of  his  trust."  Reserving  to  himself,  "  while 
it  may  please  God  to  continue  his  life  and  abode  in  this 
place,  a  negative  vote  to  hinder  anything  from  being  acted 
which  he  shall  prove  by  good  reason  to  be  prejudicial  to  the 
true  intendment  of  the  testator,  and  to  the  true  end  of  this 
work,"  he  delivers  over  his  trust  to  the  legislature  of  the 
Colony,  "  adding  also  his  desire  of  some  particulars  for  the 
well  performing  of  the  trust,"  and  concluding  : 

''  Ele  hopeth  he  shall  not  need  to  add  what  he  expressed  by 
word  of  mouth,  that  the  honored  General  Court  will  not  suffer 
this  gift  to  be  lost  from  the  Colony,  but  as  it  becometh  fathers 
of  the  commonwealth,  will  use  all  good  endeavors  to  get  it 
into  their  hands,  and  to  assert  their  right  in  it  for  the  common 
good ;  that  posterity  may  reap  the  good  fruit  of  their  labors 
and  wisdom  and  faithfulness  ;  and  that  Jesus  Christ  may  have 
the  service  and  honor  of  such  provision  for  his  people;  in 
whom  I  rest. 

John  Davenport." 

Thus  closed  this  transaction"^'  with  the  same  serious  dignity 
with  which  it  was  begun.  The  very  next  business  to  which 
the  court  proceeded  was  the  fulfillment  of  the ''  desired  particu- 
lars "  wdiich  Davenport  had  laid  before  them  "for  the  well  per- 
formino:  the  trust." 

*  For  the  entire  record,  see  Appendix,  I. 


By  one  of  these  "  desired  particulars,"  wliicli  were  not  con- 
ditions nor  stipulations,  but  which  seem  to  have  been  un- 
dertaken by  the  public  with  not  less  of  fidelity,  for  being  a 
simjjle  request  from  their  cliief  pastor,  there  was  granted  for 
the  use  of  the  proposed  college  a  "home-lot"  fronting  on  the 
public  square,  and  the  annual  rent  of  an  estate  early  conse- 
crated to  this  use  by  the  town  was  pledged  to  the  new  enter- 
prise, '*  under  the  name  and  title  of  college-land.'''^  The  main 
fnnd  of  the  infant  seminary,  from  the  estate  of  Gov.  Hopkins, 
did  n(U  become  at  once  available.  Hindrances,  legal  and  po- 
litical, were  laid  in  the  way  of  the  enterprise.  The  form  of  its 
management  was  modified  from  the  original  design  ;  its  grade 
was  reduced  below  the  plans  and  hopes  o  its  projectorsf ;  and  its 
active  operation  was  some  years  delayed.  Nevertheless  by  the 
wise  forethought  of  Davenport,  seconded  by  the  unhesitating 
generosity  of  the  towns-people  of  New  Haven,  it  w^as  at  once 
provided  with  a  home  among  their  "  fair  and  stately  houses," 
80  tliat  in  that  year,  IGGO,  "  the  fourth  day  of  tbe  fourth  month," 
this  "collegiate  school"  became  an  institution.f 

And  now  having  got  our  hero  born  into  the  world,  speech- 
less as  he  is  thus  far,  not  yet  so  much  as  distinguished  with  a 
name,  and  having  (as  it  should  seem)  but  a  very  precarious 
and  doubtful  hold  on  life,  we  will  nevertheless  do,  as  biog- 


•  The  "Oyster-shell  Field"  was  a  tract  of  forty  acres  bounded  on  the  east  by 
th'.  East  River,  and  on  the  south  in  part  by  the  harbor.  It  was  very  early  set 
uKidc  for  public  uses,  and  in  ItUl,  a  part  was  leased  for  seven  years  "  for  the  ease 
for  publi<|ue  charges."      This  was  the  "  college-land." 

f  The  proper  time  to  be  celebrated  as  the  anniversary  of  the  foundation  of 
the  school,. was  the  subject  of  some  discussion  in  the  Hopkins  Grammar  School 
.Vf»sociation ;  and  their  decision  with  regard  to  it  has  been  called  in  question. 
It  is  to  be  acknowledpjed  that  Mr.  Davenport  held  the  "  resignation "  above 
transcribed  to  have  become  void  by  the  failure  of  the  General  Court  to  fulfill  the 
conditions  of  it ;  [Town  Rec.  Apr.  2S,  16G4  ;]  that  a  new  distribution  of  the  es- 
tate was  nmde  and  the  trust  placed  in  diflerent  hands  ;  ["  Mr.  Davenport's  Grant," 
lf>68,  in  Appendix,]  and  that  the  gift  of  the  Oyster-shell  Field  was  renewed  by 
.tppcial  vole  to  the  new  Trustees,  [1077]  Nevertheless  the  view  of  Mr.  Daven- 
port him.sclf  is  very  clearly  expressed  in  his  second  grant  in  1608,  the  purpose 
of  which  was  defined  to  be  "  y«  y^  Grammar  School  or  Collcdge  att  New  Haven 
nlrcaihj  fnundi'd  and  hrgnn  may  bo  provided  for,  maintained  &  continued  for  y» 
oncouragomont  «l-  bringing  tip  of  hopofull  youths  in  y«  Languages  and  good  Lit- 
rrntiiro  for  the  Tuhlique  use  <fe  service  of  v«  country." 


9 

raphers  are  wont, — go  back  and  inquire  into  his  genealogy, 
relying  for  the  attention  of  the  hearers  upon  their  presumed 
anxious  suspense  as  to  whether  after  all  a  genealogy  may  not 
be  of  less  immediate  service  to  him  than  an  epitaph. 

I  find  no  difficulty  in  establishing  a  relationship  between 
our  Hopkins  Grammar-School  and  the  ancient  and  honorable 
family  of  the  grammar-schools  of  England,  which  grew  up  in 
the  middle  ages,  and  which,  quickened  by  the  restoration  of 
learning,  grew  with  its  growth,  and  strengthened  with  its 
strength,  under  the  brightening  light  of  the  Reformation.* 
In  particular  w^e  can  trace  its  descent  lineally  back  to  the  an- 
cient city  of  Coventry,  whence  came  forth  Davenport  and 
Eaton  to  be  the  founders  of  New  Haven.  That  interesting 
old  town,  whose  romantic  legends  are  perpetuated  in  immortal 
verse,  whose  monastic  origin  and  history  is  indicated  by  its 
name  and  the  beautiful  architecture  of  its  old  churches,  but 
whose  sturdy  Puritanism  not  only  is  known  to  history,  but  has 
made  its  mark  on  the  English  language  in  a  curious  proverb, 
— that  fine  old  city  boasts  among  its  institutions  a  free  gram- 
mar-school, founded  in  the  reign  of  Henry  YHI,  and  strength- 
ened, from  time  to  time,  b}^  gifts  and  legacies  from  public- 
spirited  citizens.  The  family  names  of  Davenport  and  Hop- 
kins stand  conspicuous  in  the  roll  of  its  benefactors.  One  of 
the  most  eminent  of  these,  Christopher  Davenport,  a  great- 
uncle  of  John  Davenport,  and  some  time  Mayor  of  Coventry, 
became,  during  the  life-time  of  his  grand-nephew,  the  founder 
of  another  of  the  famous  schools  of  Coventry, — the  Bablake 
school, — and  it  appears  on  public  record,  that  prior  to  this 
foundation,  he  had,  "  for  many  years,  at  his  own  expense, 
maintained  a  school  for  the  education  of  poor  children. "f 

*  For  some  interesting  notes  on  the  origin  of  Grammar  Schools,  see  Barnard's 
"  American  Journal  of  Education,"  I,  298.  I  am  happy  to  acknowledge  my  obli- 
gation to  Mr.  Barnard's  labors  in  the  history  of  American  education. 

f  Cotton  Mather,  (Magnalia,  I,  150,  322,)  and  after  him,  other  historians,  speak 
of  John  Davenport  as  son  of  the  mayor  of  Coventry.  The  "History  and  Gene- 
alogy of  the  Davenport  Family  "  represents  him  only  as  grandson  to  one  mayor 
of  Coventry,  and  grandnephew  to  another.  Anthony  Wood  had  represented 
John  Davenport  as  brother  to  the  Franciscan  friar,  Christopher  Davenport,  other- 


10 

In  Coventry  Free  Grammar  School,  somewhere  about  the 
year  1G07,  Tlieophihis  Eaton  and  John  Davenport  were  school- 
mates. Eaton,  tlie  son  of  a  Puritan  clergyman,*  was  a  young 
n)an  of  sixteen  years.  Davenport,  of  a  family  renowned  in 
the  history  of  the  city  for  wealth  and  station,  was  a  child  of 
ten.  There  must  have  been  precocious  indications  of  greatness 
in  the  studious  little  boy,  which  could  draw  tow^ard  him  the 
bright  and  mature  mind  of  Eaton,  not  as  a  patron  but.  as  a 
friend,  and  knit  the  two  in  an  enduring  intimacy.  That  friend- 
ship which  is  fragrant  in  history,  like  the  ointment  on  the 
beard  of  Aaron,  and  which,  in  an  important  sense,  was  the 
germ  of  the  New  Haven  Colony,  was  contracted  between 
schoolmates  in  the  famous  Grammar  School  of  Coventry. 

Thence  they  went  their  different  ways ;  Davenport,  at  the 
age  of  fourteen,  to  his  college  at  Oxford,  Eaton  to  his  mercan- 
tile apprenticeship  in  London.  For  thus  (to  use  the  quaint 
language  of  Mather)  "  in  their  after  improvements,  the  hands 
of  Divine  Providence  were  laid  across  upon  the  heads  of  The- 
ophilus  Eaton  and  John  Davenport;  for  Davenport,  whose 
[grand]  father  was  the  laayor  of  Coventry,  became  a  minister  : 
and  Eaton,  wdiose  father  was  minister  of  Coventry,  contrary  to 
liis  intentions  became  a  merchant."' 

Their  ])aths  converged  and  coincided  again.  For  in  1616, 
the  young  minister  of  nineteen  came  to  London  to  take  charge 
of  the  church  and  parish  of  St.  Stephen's,  Coleman  street;  and 
his  old  bchuul-fellow  became  his  parishioner.  They  parted 
again,  Davenport,  in  1632,  grown  to  such  eminence  and  influ- 
ence among  godly  men  as  to  become  the  object  of  a  "tierce 
storm  from  the  enraged  spirit  of  the  two  bishops,"!  taking 
refuge  among  the  Puritan  exiles  at  Amsterdam,   and  there 


wise  FrnnciscuH  de  Sancta  Clara.  Mather  complains  of  him,  and  calls  him  "a 
wooden  historjiui,"  for  hin  pains,  and  says  the  two  were  akin,  but  not  brothers. 
ll  ajipcars,  however,  from  the  authority  above  quoted,  that  "Wood  was  right, 
after  all,  and  Mather  wron^. 

•  Not  a  dis.senter,  but  minister  of  one  of  the  ancient  parish  churches  of 
Coventry. 

I  LctliT  from  Davenport  to  Lady  Vere,  London,  June  80th,  1028,  given  in 
'The  Davenport  Family,"  p.  ;U1. 


11 

ministering  in  the  English  congregation  a  gospel  which  was 
deemed  ahnost  too  pure  even  for  the  Puritan  ;  Eaton  visiting 
the  ports  of  the  Baltic  in  his  commercial  enterprises,  and  as  a 
man  diligent  in  business,  standing  before  the  king  of  Denmark 
the  representative  of  the  king  of  England.  From  these  wan- 
derings they  both  returned; — Eaton,  rich,  famous,  yet  in- 
corrupt in  character  and  conscience ;  Davenport,  impover- 
ished, rejected,  unsuccessful,  but  disheartened  never  a  whit ; 
nay,  rather  with  his  great,  enthusiastic  mind  full  of  weighty 
thoughts  suggested  by  observation  in  a  foreign  land,  and  of 
grand  designs  pondered  in  his  forced  seclusion,  an  exile  among 
a  people  of  strange  language.  Of  all  the  devices  of  tyranny, 
the  most  suicidal  is  that  of  shutting  up  her  enemies  to  their 
own  thoughts  and  resources  by  temporary  imprisonment  or 
exile.  Whatever  there  may  be  of  mental  power  in  her  vic- 
tim, if  not  crushed,  is  reinforced  by  such  a  process.  In  the  soli- 
tude of  prison  or  of  exile,  theories  grow  into  designs,  and  de- 
signs ripen  for  execution.  They  who  purpose  to  suppress  a 
man,  or  an  idea,  by  such  expedients,  do  well  to  take  heed  to 
bolts  and  to  passports,  for  if  their  victims  ever  come  forth 
again,  it  were  manifold  better  that  they  never  should  have 
been  shut  in,  or  shut  out.  Well  for  them,  if  the  man  do  not 
come  back  to  them  a  giant,  and  the  idea  return  upon  their 
heads  a  revolution.  Witness  Moses,  David,  Alfred,  Dante, 
and  in  modern  times,  Napoleon  III,  Kossuth,  Garibaldi. 

Witness  also  John  Davenport.  For  it  is  noted  as  the  fruit 
of  his  meditation  in  Holland,  that  "he  observed  that  when 
a  reformation  of  the  church  has  been  brought  about  in  any 
part  of  the  world,  it  has  rarely  been  afterwards  carried  on  any 
one  step  further  than  the  first  reformers  did  succeed  in  their 
first  endeavors ;  he  observed  that  as  easily  might  the  ark  have 
been  removed  from  the  mountains  of  Ararat,  wdiere  it  first 
grounded,  as  a  people  get  any  ground  in  reformation  after  and 
bevond  the  first  remove  of  the  reformers.*     And  this  observa- 


*  This  observation  of  Davenport  is  closely  parallel  with  a  remark  of  John 
Robinson,  in  his  farewell  discourse  to  the  Pilgrims,  1620.  See  Young's  Chroni- 
cles of  the  Pilgrims,  p.  39*7.  Doubtless  it  was  a  common  topic  of  reflection  and 
conversation  among  the  Puritan  exiles  in  Holland. 


12 

tion  quicker.ed  him  to  embark  in  a  design  of  reformation, 
wheieip.  he  miglit  have  opportunity  to  drive  things  in  the  first 
essay  as  near  to  the  precept  and  pattern  of  Scripture  as  they 
couUl  be  driven."*  The  thought  drew  him  at  once  toward 
New  England  ;— that  New  England  for  which  he  andhis  friend 
Eaton  lia°d  already  given  encouragement  in  good  prayers  and 
wishes,  in  counsels  and  in  large  gifts  from  their  unequal  for- 
tunes ;'!-— that  New  England  from  which  his  friend  John  Cot- 
ton had  written  to  him,  "  that  the  order  of  the  churches  and 
the  commonwealth  was  now  so  settled  [there]  by  common  con- 
sent, that  it  brought  to  his  mind  the  new  heaven  and  the  new 
earth  wherein  dwells  righteousness."  '-Wherefore,"  says  the 
hist..rlan,  "soon  after  his  return  for  London,  he  shipped  him- 
self, with  several  eminent  Christians  and  their  families,  for 
New  England.":^ 

And  now  we  have  brought  together  into  one  group,  on 
board  the  good  ship  Hector,§  the  heroes  of  this  early  story. 
Central  among  them,  Davenpokt,  such  as  we  have  described 
liim,  but  now  in  the  full  vigor  and  maturity  of  his  manhood — 
a  "  reverend  and  famous  man, — a  most  incomparable  preach- 
er,— a  prince  of  ])reachers,  and  worthy  to  have  been  a  preach- 
er to  princes."|j  Not  the  guiding  hand,  it  may  be,  but  the 
glowing  heart; — the  inspiring  genius  of  the  enterprise  is  his. 
It  is  his  adventurous,  enthusiastic  and  religious  soul,  that  has 
distinctly  projected  the  perfect  outlines  of  the  plantation- work, 
and  that  sees  before  him  in  hopeful,  nay,  prophetic  vision,  its 
entire  accomplishment. 

Ijcside  Davenport  stands  his  old  school-mate,  lately  his  par- 
ishioner, ever  his  most  dear  and  faithful  friend,  Theophilus 
Eaton,  the  London  merchant,  lie  who  had  been  "  conver- 
sant with  great  aftairs,  having  with  good  advantage  more  than 


•  Mather,  Mapnalia,  I,  324,  325. 

f  S.'c  ii  letter  from  Mr.  Davenport  to  Major  General  Levcrett,  in  [lutchlnson's 
Collection,  p.  395:— "your  charter  [i.  e.  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony]  towards* 
the  purchasing,'  whereof  I  paid  50.£  and  Mr.  Eaton  100.€  ....  wc  being  members 
of  the  London  corporation  for  X.  E." 

X  Ma;,'nalia,  I,  325.  §  Wintlirop's  History,  T,  220. 

I  Magnalia,  I,  329. 


13 

once  stood  before  kings,"  tlie  counselor  and  patron  of  early 
Kew  England  colonization, — now  himself  a  colonist, — was  on 
his  way  to  become  the  planter,  and  legislator,  and  governor  of 
a  new  republic,  and  in  due  time,  by  the  call  of  the  choicest 
spirits  of  that  golden  age,  to  preside  in  the  first  confederacy 
of  American  States,  with  such  blameless  integrity,  such  wis- 
dom, such  authority,  such  gracefulness,  such  more  than  royal 
dignity  of  person,  as,  in  presiding  over  the  latest, — the  last  con- 
federacy,— was  worn  by  Washington  himself.  AYould  that  the 
art  "which  has  commemorated  to  us  the  face  of  the  Pastor,  had 
essayed  to  give  to  posterity  the  form  of  the  Magistrate  as 
well ;  even  though  the  artist  had  been  compelled  to  write 
upon  the  canvas,  not  '•'' jpinxit^''  but  "  tentwmtP  For,  writes 
one  who  must  himself  have  seen  him,  ^'  This  man  had  in  him 
great  gifts,  and  as  many  excellencies  as  are  usually  to  be  found 
in  any  man  :  he  had  an  excellent,  princely  face  and  port  com- 
manding respect  from  all  others."*  And,  says  one  who  had 
learned  of  his  fragrant  memory  from  those  who  had  been  his 
fellows,  "he  carried  in  his  very  countenance  a  majesty  which 
cannot  be  described."!  Says  the  severest  and  exactest  of  his- 
torians, "No  character  in  the  annals  of  New  England  is  of 
purer  fame  than  that  of  Theophilus  Eaton.":}: 

I  have  now  to  introduce  to  you  a  fellow  passenger  with 
Davenport  and  Eaton,  and  one  not  unworthy  of  their  really 
illustrious  companionship, — the  Edwakd  Hopkins  of  whose 
name  and  bounty  the  Hopkins  Grammar  School  is  a  peren- 
nial monument.  Of  his  life  previous  to  his  embarkation  with 
this  goodly  company,  not  very  much  is  known.  He  had  been 
a  scholar  in  the  Koyal  Free  Grammar  School  in  his  native 
town  of  Shrewsbury  ;§  in  early  life  he  had  joined  himself, 
with  a  new  and  believing  heart,  to  the  fellowship  of  the  Pu- 
ritans. He,  also,  had  been  a  successful  London  merchant,  as 
well  as  Eaton,  with  whom,  no  doubt,  he  worshiped  in  that 
parish  church  of  St.  Stephen's,  Coleman  street,  of  which  Da- 
venport was  Yicar.     But  these  were  not  the  only  associations 

*  Hubbard,  329,  330.  f  Magnalia,  I,  152. 

\  Savage's  Winthrop,  I,  227,  note.  §  Barnard,  Educ.  in  Conn.,  p.  17. 


14 

by  which  he  was  brought  near  to  his  fellow  merchant.  The 
wife  of  p:aton,  the  Puritan,  was  no  less  than  the  daughter  of  a 
lord  bisliop.  Eaton  liad  married  her  in  her  widowhood,  re- 
ceiving into  liis  own  house  and  heart  her  tliree  children  bj  her 
former'husband,  one  of  whom,  "  tliat  from  a  child  had  been 
observable  for  desirable  qualities,''-^'  was  now  the  w^ife  of  Hop- 
kins. A  serious,  sad,  almost  painful  figure  to  contemplate,  is 
that  of  Hopkins.  A  younger  man  than  either  of  his  asso- 
ciates on  the  voyage,t  he  is  nevertheless  prematurely  decayed. 
At  an  age  which  should  be  that  of  manly  vigor,  he  is  afflicted 
''  with  bodily  infirmities,  but  especially  with  a  wasting  and 
bloody  cough."  The  most  tender  and  affectionate  of  hus- 
bands, he  has  not  to  bear  the  trial  of  parting  from  his  wMfe, 
nor  she  from  her  mother.  The  whole  family  are  gathered  on 
board  the  ship  Hector.  But  what  further  and  inexpressible 
sorrow  is  to  come  to  him  through  this  very  relation  in  which, 
as  his  own  words  are,  "he  had  promised  himself  so  much  con- 
tent," must  appear  by  and  by,  in  our  story  of  the  Hopkins 
School. 

It  would  be  no  groundless  imagination  if  we  should  speak 
of  the  conversation  of  these  adventurers,  and  say  what  topics 
are  most  likely  to  have  occupied  their  thoughts  and  words  in 
the  intervals  of  that  daily  worship  that  rose  morning  and  eve- 
ning from  the  congregation  of  the  whole  ship's  company.:j: 
There  are  indications  enough  that  from  the  very  outset  the 
leaders  of  this  New  Haven  Colony  busied  themselves  anx- 
iously with  the  principles  and  the  methods  of  the  Christian 
state,  which  they  felt  that  they  were  about  to  found. 

It  has  been  estee.ncd  to  add  a  certain  poetic  interest  to  the 
beginnings  of  empire  in  this  land,  to  represent  the  first  colo- 
nists as  quite  unconscious  of  the  grand  consequences  of  their 
work.  Historians  have  thought  (it  would  seem)  to  extol  the 
work   i^'i  Divine  Providence  in  the  planting  and  growth  of  a 


*  Mftthcr,  Magnalio,  I,  146.  f  He  was  born  about  the  year  1600. 

X  For  an  nfcount  of  tlie  religions  observances  on  board  a  Puritan  emigrant 
hhip  of  that  age,  sec  lligginson's  and  Richard  Mather's  Journals,  in  Young's 
Chronicles  of  Massachusetts,  pp.  237,  449,  479. 


15 

nation  in  America,  by  representing  it  as  something  far  be- 
yond the  possible  reach  of  human  forethought,  or  even  hope. 
Tlie  orator  whose  exquisite  rlictoric  has  done  more  than  that 
of  any  other  to  embellish  the  earlier,  as  well  as  the  later  his- 
tory of  the  United  States,  accounts  this  to  be  a  *'  peculiarity 
in  the  nature  of  the  enterprise"  of  our  ancestors,  "that  its 
grand  and  beneficent  consequences  so  unfold  themselves  be- 
yond the  reach  of  the  most  sanguine  promise."  "  What  they 
projected,"  says  he,  "  was  the  least  part  of  what  came  to  pass. 
The  fulfillment  of  their  design  is  the  least  thing,  which,  in  the 
steady  progress  of  events,  has  flowed  from  their  counsels  and 
their  eflforts."  A  safe  covert  for  themselves  from  religious 
and  political  tyranny ; — a  retired,  inoffensive  resort,  where 
tliey  might  conserve  the  freedom  of  their  own  consciences ; — 
the  opportunity  of  regaining,  by  "  a  frugal  commerce,  the  ex- 
penses of  their  humble  establishment ;" — in  their  most  san- 
guine expectations,  the  ultimate  possibility  of  a  thrifty  but 
dependent  colon}^ ; — these,  we  are  eloquently  assured,  are  the 
humble  designs  or  hopes  from  which  have  grown  realities  so 
disproportionate  and  vast.  Could  the  unconscious  founders 
of  our  greatness  but  awake  to  gaze  upon  the  present  fruits  of 
their  own  handiwork, — and  see  this  land,  the  asylum  of  lib- 
erty for  all  the  world, — the  empire  of  a  triumphantly  aggress- 
ive Christianity, — the  mart  of  a  world-wide  commerce, — the 
home  of  an  independent  and  powerful  republic, — they  would 
(we  are  told)  be  utterly  confounded  at  the  sight,  as  that  which 
had  not  entered  into  their  hearts.* 


*  See  Orations  and  Speeches  of  Edward  Everett,  I,  47,  48.  It  is  hardly- 
necessary  to  say  that  the  quotations  are  from  Mr.  Everett's  first  Plymouth  Oration. 
The  language  of  that  oration  is  immediately  applied  to  the  Plymouth  colonists, 
of  whom  it  may  be  used  with  greater  appearance  of  reason.  But  the  note  which 
introduces  the  oration  makes  it  reflect  on  the  early  settlers  of  N'ew  England 
in  general. 

Even  to  the  Plymouth  Pilgrims,  however,  such  language  as  this  can  be 
applied,  if  at  all,  only  in  a  very  limited  sense.  It  is  a  touching  thing  to  see  the 
great  hopes  of  these  impoverished  adventurers  struggling  into  expression  in  their 
writings,  amid  the  disheartenments  of  the  "  res  dura  et  novitas  regni,^^  and  the  cau- 
tiousness of  utterance  which  their  suspicious  enemies  at  home  imposed  upon 
them.     Their  conscious  feebleness  seemed  never  to  triumph  over  this  hope,  which 


16 

Fellow-citizens,  tins  is  vain  rhetoric.  If  it  were  true,  it 
could  only  detract  from  the  grandeur  of  our  ancestors'  work  ; 
if  it  were  never  so  enviable  a  praise,  it  is  not  true.  The  facts 
and  documents  of  our  primeval  history  prove  to  us  that  if 
ever  great  historic  deeds  were  done  with  a  solemn  conscious- 
ness of  their  relation  to  the  world  and  to  the  comhig  time,  it 
was  the  deeds  that  are  written  in  the  early  annals  of  New 
England  ; — that  if  ever  the  foundations  of  a  nation  were  laid 
with  prophetic  insight  into  remotest  consequences,  it  was  not 
60  much  wJien  the  plow  of  Eomulus  marked  out  the  narrow 


was  "  not  the  least  "  of  their  reasons  for  removal ; — "a  great  hope  and  inward  zeal 
thev  had  of  laying  some  good  foundation,  or  at  least  to  make  some  way  there- 
unto, for  the  propagating  and  advancing  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  in 
these  remote  parts  of  the  world  ;  yea,  though  they  should  be  but  as  stepping 
stones  unto  others  for  performing  of  so  great  a  work.^^  Young's  Chronicles  of  the 
Pilgrims,  p.  47.  This  is  not  the  place  to  cite  authorities  at  length,  on  this  point. 
I  will  only  refer  to  another  striking  prophecy  in  the  same  volume,  p.  25*7,  in  the 
Discourse  of  Robert  Cushman,  Plymouth,  1621.  Also  on  page  261,  where  he 
says  "  I  trust  you  shall  be  repayed  again  double  and  treble  in  this  world,  yea  ! 
and  the  memory  of  this  action  shall  never  die.'''' 

But  the  writings  of  the  later  settlers  are  full  of  distinct  forecastiugs  of  the 
consequences  of  their  undertaking.  So  early  as  1623,  thirteen  of  the  company 
of  Adventurers  in  England  wrote  to  cheer  the  "great  hope  and  inward  zeal" 
of  tlie  Pilgrims  with  these  words :  *'  Let  it  not  be  grievous  to  you  that  you  have 
been  instruments  to  break  the  ice  for  others  who  shall  come  after  you.  The 
honor  shall  be  yours  to  the  world's  end.'''  Gov.  Bradford  in  Prince,  p.  200.  "  The 
llumblc  Request  "  (1630)  of  the  Governor  and  Company  of  Massachusetts,  speaks 
in  fitting  terms  of  "  tliis  solemn  enterprise  wherein  we  are  engaged."  And  the 
foremost  of  the  elder  Winihrop's  "  considerations  for  planting  New  England,"  is 
that  "  it  will  be  a  service  to  the  church  of  great  consequence,  to  carry  the  gospel 
into  those  parts  of  the  world,  and  to  raise  up  a  bulwark  against  the  kingdom  of 
Antichrist."  See  also  Young's  Chronicles  of  Massachusetts,  pp.  23m.,  123,  137, 
277,  400,  650.  But  in  none  oi  the  fathers  does  this  consciousness  of  a  great 
work  seem  to  have  more  nearly  attained  "  to  something  like  prophetic  strain," 
than  in  the  fathers  of  the  New  Haven  Colony. 

I  am  happy  in  thinking  that  what  I  have  claimed  above  may  be  truly  said  with- 
out cln.shing  with  the  nuiin  thought  of  Dr.  BushncU's  noble  Oration  on  "  The 
Fathers  of  New  England,  or  accusing  the  fathers  (to  borrow  his  exquisitely  apt 
quotation)  of  the 

"  craven  scruple 

Of  thinking  too  precisely  of  the  event,— 

A  thought  which,  (luartored,  hath  but  one  part  wisdom, 

And  ever  three  parts  coward." 


^  17 

circuit  of  the  infant  Rome ;  nor  when  the  pen  of  Alexis 
sketched  a  code  of  civilized  law  for  the  nascent  empire  of 
Russia ; — as  when  the  first  planters  of  New  England  set  down 
their  wives  and  children  and  their  household-stuff  in  the 
wilderness,  and  appointed  institutions  for  their  posterity,  and 
covenanted  to  be  governed  in  their  young  republics  by  laws  of 
their  own  making  and  by  the  law  of  God.  True,  no  mind 
could  predict  the  rapidity  of  events,  nor  foretell  how  long  the 
future  nation  should  linger  in  the  birth.  But  as  for  all  the 
great  results  that  have  been  achieved,  I  know  not  one  that 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  contemplated  by  the  first  fathers 
of  the  Commonwealth  ;  as  for  all  the  grand  ideas  which  we 
boast  as  American,  I  know  not  one  that  may  not  be  found,  if 
not  in  full  development,  at  least  in  fruitful  germ  in  their 
writings, — of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy.  The  future 
greatness  of  the  country  ;  the  destined  importance  of  its  com- 
merce ;  its  relation  to  the  designs  of  God,  and  the  christiani- 
zation  of  the  world  ; — these  were  familiar  and  inspiring 
thoughts  to  them.  Its  rightful  and  certainly  destined  inde- 
pendence was  a  thought  Hot  unfamiliar  to  them,  and  which 
hardly  smothered,  was  nigh  more  than  once  to  bursting  forth 
into  an  utterance  that  might  have  anticipated  the  course  of 
history  by  a  hundred  years.*  And  so  with  American  ideas : 
that  doctrine  of  the  right  of  self-expatriation  which  conse- 
crates our  soil  forever  as  an  asylum  to  the  oppressed  of  all 
nations ;  f — the  doctrine  of  the  authority  of  the  people  in 
matters  of  government ;  of  the  supremacy  of  Right  above 
Law  ;  of  the  duty  of  a  government  to  care  for  the  education 
of  the  people ; — they  were  not  only  uttered — that  were  a  light 
thing — they  ^^qxq  jpractised  by  the  men  of  the  first  generation  ; 
they  were  presumed  in  the  very  outset  of  their  enterprise, 

*  It  has  even  been  made  matter  of  serious  discussion  whether  "Winthrop  and 
his  associates,  when  they  prepared  to  transport  the  Massachusetts  charter  across 
the  ocean,  did  not  distinctly  purpose  to  lay  the  foundation  of  an  independent 
nation.  See  Palfrey's  New  England,  Yol.  I,  p.  398,  Be  this  as  it  may,  it  is  im- 
possible to  read  the  history  of  the  early  days  of  that  colony,  without  finding 
continual  evidence  of  a  disposition  to  maintain  their  liberties  even  'as  against  the 
crown  of  England,  at  any  sacrifice  or  peril.  See  Palfrey,  ibid,  Yol.  I,  pp.  386, 
426,  430,  440. 

f  Bancroft,  II,  56  ;  Bacon's  Historical  Discourses,  127. 


18 

thej  were  wrought  into  the  very  f\ibric  of  their  infant  states ; 
they  were  bequeathed  to  their  children  of  the  third  and  fourth 
generation.'^ 

Eminently  is  this  true  of  the  Neio  Haven  Colony^  that  by 
faith  they  planned  and  commenced  their  plantation-work  as 
knowing  well  what  great  business  they  were  about,  ^'j^ro 
CiiRisTo  condcre  gentemy  This  is  evident  enough  in  their 
steady  refusal  of  the  hospitality  with  which  Massachusetts 
threw  open  to  them  her  broad  domain,  and  in  their  pushing  on 
into  the  remoter  wilderness,  "  to  endeavor  a  stricter  conform- 
ity to  the  word  of  God  in  settling  of  all  matters,  both  civil 
and  sacred,  than  they  liad  yet  seen  exemplified  in  any  other 
part  of  the  world."  It  was  testified  to  by  the  boldness  with 
which,  unauthorized  by  patent  or  by  royal  charter,  they 
planted  themselves  on  the  original  right  of  self-government, 
and  held  their  land  by  right  of  purchase  from  the  Indians. 
It  was  evidenced  by  their  steadfast  refusal  to  depart  from  their 
discouraged  settlement  on  the ''  fair  bay  "  of  Quinnipiac,  even 
when  tempted  by  the  tropical  wealth  of  Jamaica,  or  solicited 
by  the  Lord  Protector  to  a  home  amid  the  verdure  andfertilitj^ 
of  Ireland. t  It  is  proved  by  their  extant  discussions  of  the 
methods  of  ^'government  in  a  new  plantation  whose  design  is 
religion,"  and  by  the  habitual  expressions  of  their  great  intel- 
lectual and  spiritual  guide.  The  good  of  posterity  is  the 
motive  by  which  he  urges  them  to  duty.  "  The  common  wel- 
fare of  all,"  said  he,  is  that  "  whereunto  all  men  are  bound 
principally  to  attend,  in  laying  the  foundation  of  a  common- 
wealth, lest  posterity  rue  the  first  miscarriages  when  it  will  be 
too  late  to  redress  them.  They  that  are  skillful  in  architecture 
observe  that  the  breaking  or  yielding  of  a  stone  in  the  ground- 

•  Doubtless  the  ideas  of  religious  liberty,  and  the  freedom  of  the  church  from 
the  support  and  interference  of  the  state,  were  little  enough  apprehended  by 
niany  of  the  early  colonies,  although  in  all  of  them  they  were  gcrminally  present, 
as  the  sul)se(iuent  history  has  demonstrated.  The  Colony  of  New  Haven  stood 
next  to  that  of  llhode  Island  in  its  practical  acceptance  of  these  ideas.  See 
Rancroft,  II,  50,  57,  (the  author  is  speaking  of  Connecticut  after  the  Union.) 
Ilacon'i^  Historical  Discourses,  pp.  21,  25. 

t  Winthrop's  N.  E.,  I,  237,  and  Letter  of  Davenport  and  Eaton  in  Appendix 
(i,  of  the  san.e  volume.      Mngnalia,  B.  I,  chap,  vi,  §  6. 


19 

work  of  a  building,  but  the  breadth  of  the  back  of  a  knife, 
will  make  a  cleft  of  more  than  half  a  foot  in  the  fabric  aloft. 
So  important  are  fundamental  errors.  The  Lord  awaken  us  to 
look  to  it  in  time,  and  send  us  light  and  truth  to  lead  us  into 
the  safest  ways  in  these  beginnings."*  The  thought  that  they 
were  laying  "  the  foundations  of  many  generations,"  appears 
in  the  solemn  dignity  with  w^hich  they  conducted  every  public 
transaction,  and  in  the  early  provision  for  preserving  to  future 
generations  an  authentic  record  of  their  history.f  They  were 
not  men  of  expedients,  making  shift  for  an  emergency ;  they 
were  men  of  far-reaching  plans,  and  deep  and  thorougli  prin- 
ciples. 

And  so  the  noble  and  unprecedented  project  of  a  system  of 
educational  institutions  for  New  Haven  colony,  which  lay  so 
near  the  enthusiastic  heart  of  Davenport,  must  have  been  con- 
sidered before  hand  ;  not  only  pondered  in  his  own  specula- 
tions, but  discussed  with  the  grave,  wise,  practical  men  with 
whom  he  was  embarked  on  so  great  an  adventure. 

In  fact,  this  company  came  fully  prepared  at  once  to  make 
a  beginning  in  this  work  with  the  very  establishment  of  the 
commonwealth.  As  they  had  men  qualified  to  become  gov- 
ernors and  counselors  of  the  state,  and  ministers  of  the  church 
in  the  wilderness,  so  they  brought  with  them, — what  no 
other  plantation  at  that  time  possessed, — a  professional 
teacher  to  set  up  the  school ;  and  he  the  most  picturesque 
character  in  all  their  history, — the  famous  Mr.  Ezekiel  Cliee- 
ver.  Coming  forth  from  a  most  accomplished  classical  educa- 
tion in  London,  he  brought  with  him  for  his  chief  estate,:}:  the 
beautiful  manuscripts  of  his  elegant  Latin  poems,  and  of  his 
dissertations  in  the  same  language.  With  all  his  fine  culture 
he  did  not  hesitate  to  apply  himself  to  the  small  things  of 

*  Discourse  of  Civil  Government ;  quoted  in  Bacon's  Historical  Discourses, 
p.  153.  See  also  Davenport's  Letter  to  Major-General  Leverett,  in  Hutchinson's 
Collection,  p.  225. 

f  Colony  Records,  Vol.  II,  p.  217. 

I  The  value  of  Cheever's  property  was  rated  at  £20.  New  Haven  Colony 
Records,  Vol.  I,  p.  91.  Some  of  Cheever's  writings,  with  a  fac-simile  of  his  hand- 
writing, and  Cotton  Mather's  sermon  at  his  funeral,  were  publisHed  in  a  pam- 
phlet, Boston,  1828,  by  one  of  his  descendants  of  the  same  name. 


20 

colony-life.  But  it  was  an  early  care  of  the  fathers  of  tlie 
young  republic,  that  the  school  which  he  commenced  in  her 
infancy  should  advance  and  be  elevated  with  her  increase. 
There  are,  on  record,  repeated  votes,  both  of  town  and  colony, 
to  elevate  the  grade  of  his  school,  and  supplement  from  the 
public  treasury  his  scanty  income ;  and  repeated  indications 
of  tlie  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  not  only  for  his  work's  sake, 
but  for  his  own.  After  some  twelve  years  of  labor  in  his  call- 
ing, he  removed  hence  to  Ipswich,  and  thence  to  Charlestown, 
and  thence  to  Boston,  where  in  extreme  but  vigorous  and  use- 
ful old  a^-e,  he  closed  his  honored  labors  and  {hand  longo 
interval]^)  his  venerable  life,  in  the  year  1708.  His  funeral 
was  attended  from  the  school-house,  in  presence  of  the  "  Gov- 
ernor, Councillors,  Ministers,  Justices  and  Gentlemen." 

What  his  method  of  teaching  was,  may  be  gathered  from 
his  "  Latin  Accidence,"  which  continued  until  within  the 
memory  of  men  now  living,  to  be  used  as  a  text-book  in  Latin 
Grammar,  and  from  the  traditions  of  his  pupils.  His  method 
of  discipline  could  be  inferred  from  what  we  may  learn  of 
himself  in  general.  The  pupils  of  his  seventy  years'  career 
rose  up  with  one  accord  to  call  him  blessed,  when  he  died : 
which  affords  no  sufficient  presumption  that  they  did  not 
thoroughly  detest  him,  and  caricature  him  on  the  blank  pages 
of  his  Accidence,  and  call  him  "old  Cheever"  below  their 
breath,  so  long  as  they  went  to  school  to  him.  It  is  not  to  be 
supposed  that  such  a  Puritan  of  the  Puritans  would  err  in  his 
regimen  on  the  side  of  excessive  mildness.  The  boys  learned  to 
know  him  by  the  rule  '^  ex  cauda^  leonem^'^  the  last  survivor  of 
them  all  giving  it  as  his  most  distinct  reminiscence  of  "  the 
famous  Grammar-School  master,  that  he  wore  a  long  white 
beard  terminating  in  a  point;  and  that  when  he  stroked  his 
beard  to  the  point,  it  was  a  sign  for  the  boys  to  stand  clear." 
It  is  written  of  him  that  he  served  God  faithfully  in  his  gene- 
ration, "  and  ahominated  'periwigs T'^ 
There  are  documentary  proofs  that  although  "the  Chee- 


•  Bacon's  Iligtorical  Discourses,  p.  318.     Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Edu- 
cation, I,  813,  314. 


^  21 

verian  education "  was  perfect  and  unequaled,  there  were 
certain  defects  in  the  Cheeverian  character  which  somewhat 
detracted  from  his  amiableness  and  dignity.  I  fear  that 
history  will  have  to  write  that  the  learned,  self-denying,  con- 
scientious Cheever,  was  in  some  degree  willful  and  opinionated, 
and  entirely  unmanageable.  A  curious  record  has  lately 
been  discovered,  of  his  trial  before  the  First  Church  in  New 
Haven,  not  for  any  scandalous  sin,  so  much  as  (it  would  seem) 
for  being  in  general  pragmatical,  dogmatical,  and  disagree- 
able. His  particular  transgressions  seem  to  have  consisted 
chiefly  in  speaking  evil  of  dignities,  in  abusing  the  church 
and  the  elders,  and  in  doubtful  disputation.  All  which,  says 
the  record,  "  Br:  Cheever  neither  retracting  nor  giving  any 
answer,  our  Teacher  and  sundry  of  the  brethren  told  him,  they 
had  been  often  and  long  grieved  by,  and  for  him,  his  ofiensive 
carriages,  both  in  the  private  meetings  of  the  Ch.  and  in 
the  public  assembly,  as  himself  well  knew,  had  been  afflicting 
and  burdensome  to  them,  they  had  for  a  long  time  observed 
and  witnessed  against  his  contradicting,  stifi',  and  proud  frame 
of  spirit,  they  feared  God  had  a  controversy  with  him,  won- 
dered what  it  would  come  to,  and  what  God  would  do  with 
him.  After  a  long  debate,  without  any  fruit  appearing  in  the 
spirit  and  carriage  of  br:  Cheever,  when  he  could  neither  be 
drawn  to  take  off  the  charge,  nor  to  instance  in  any  particu- 
lars, which  being  opened  might  have  been  cleared  before  the 
assembly,  but  did  obstinately  persist  in  fastening  a  slanderous 
reproach  upon  the  officers  and  brethren,  the  Ch.  proceeded  to 
censure,  and  upon  a  serious  consideration  of  his  miscarriages, 
in  the  nature  and  compass  of  them,  this  last  making  the  rest 
full,  and  heaped  measure,  by  vote  ordered,  that  he  be  cast  out 
of  the  body,  till  the  proud  flesh  be  destroyed,  and  he  be 
brought  into  a  more  member-like  frame."* 

*  "  The  Trial  of  Ezekiel  Cheever  before  the  First  Church  in  New  Haven." 
Conn.  Hist.  Collections,  Vol.  I.  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Hoadly,  State  Librarian, 
for  the  privilege  of  reading  this  curious  and  instructive  document,  before  its 
publication;  also,  for  the  opportunity  of  reading  Cheever's  treatise  entitled 
"  Scripture  Prophecies  Explained." 


22 


This  trial  and  condemnation  in  1G49,  seems  to  account  for 
Cheever's  removal  to  Ipswich,  in  1650.  We  have  no  direct 
evidence  but  that  he  dwelt  in  peace,  after  this.  He  lived 
four  score  and  fourteen  years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters. 
I  have  not  traced  the  line  of  descent  from  him ;  but  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  his  family  is  not  entirely  extinct."^ 

With  such  teachers  as  they  could  find  to  occupy— not  fill— 
the  place  of  Cheever,  our  fathers  labored  on,  that  the  great 
design  which  was  to  make  :N'ew  Haven  a  University  town, 
and^  fountain  of  learning  for  all  the  land,  should  never  be 
lost  sight  of,  and  *'  learning  be  buried  in  the  grave  of  our 
forefathers."  It  was  always  an  inmost  thought  of  the  pastor, 
it  was  always  a  foremost  labor  of  the  governor,  to  maintain 
here  a  succession  of  learned  teachers,  in  that  school,  on  the 
foundation  of  which,  they  watched  and  prayed  for  opportu- 
nities to  erect  a  seminary  of  liigher  learning.! 

In  the  tenth  year,  "  ab  urbe  condita^^  the  town  "  considered 
to  reserve  a  lot  commodious  for  a  college,  wb**  they  desired 
int  be  set  up  so  soon  as  their  ability  might  reach  thereunto. 
In  the  sixteenth  year,  the  motion  for  the  setting  up  of  a 
college  at  New  Ilauen,  wh^^  had  been  suspended  in  favor  of 
the  college  '  in  the  Baye,' "  was  set  on  foot  again,  and  pressed 
from  time  to  time  upon  the  generosity  of  the  various  towns  in 
the  Colony.  "  In  a  free  way  of  contribution  "  the  impover- 
ished merchants  of  New  Haven  subscribed  the  munificent 
sum  of  300.£  to  encourage  the  work,  and  the  neighbor  town 
of  Milford  declared  that  if  the  w^ork  might  comfortably  be 
carried  on,  they  would  give  their  one  hundred.  The  pro- 
ject of  a  college  lingered  still  in  the  depressed  and  unsettled 
state,  but  was  never  abandoned.:]:    Not  as  a  substitute  for  it,  but 


•  Tho  life  of  Cheever  has  been  carefully  written  by  Mr.  Barnard,  in  the  first 
volume  of  his  Journal  of  Education.  There  is  little  to  be  gleaned  after  Mr. 
liarnard ;  ft  few  unimportant  allusions  to  Cheever  stand  on  the  New  Haven 
Records,  wliich  are  neverthcloss  ciiaracteristic.  It  was  his  inquisitive  eye  that 
dctcct«Hl  the  false  entry  made  by  Thomas  Fugill,  Secretary  to  the  Colony,  which 
resulted  in  the  disgrace  of  that  officer.  New  Haven  Col.  Records,  I,  221 ;  Ba- 
con's Historical  Discourses,  318. 

\  Bee  Barnard's  Education  in  Connecticut,  pp.  11,  12, 

\  Sec  Appendix,  III,  "  Early  Efforts  for  a  College  at  New  Haven:' 


23 

as  a  forerunner,  the  General  Court,  in  1659,  (the  year  before 
that  which  we  now  celebrate  as  the  year  of  our  foundation,) 
"  looking  upon  it  as  their  great  duty  to  establish  some  course 
that  (through  the  blessing  of  God)  learning  may  be  promoved 
in  this  jurisdiction,  as  a  means  for  the  fitting  of  instruments 
for  public  service  in  church  and  commonwealth,  did  order 
that  40£  a  year  shall  be  paid  by  the  treasurer  for  the  further- 
ance of  a  grammar-school  for  the  use  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  jurisdiction,  and  that  S£  more  shall  be  disbursed  for  the 
procuring  of  books."* 

After  these  long  preparations,  the  fullness  of  time  seemed 
to  have  come,  and  Davenport,  with  auspicious  words,  brought 
forth  the  legacy  of  Governor  Edward  Hopkins,  and  laid  the 
foundation,  as  he  deemed,  not  of  a  Grammar-School,  but  of  a 
College. 

There  had  been  great  and  touching  changes  in  the  thirty 
years  that  had  j)assed  since,  in  the  enthusiasm  of  a  prosperous 
commencement,  the  three  friends  had  talked  over  their  enter- 
prise on  the  deck  of  the  Hector.  In  that  very  year — 1660 — 
the  Colonists  in  "the  Baye,"  pleading  for  their  chartered 
liberties,  with  the  restored  Stuart,  said  :  "  not  that  our  gar- 
ments are  become  old  by  reason  of  the  very  long  journey ; 
but  that  ourselves,  who  came  away  in  our  strength,  are  many 
of  us  gray-headed,  and  some  of  us  stooping  for  age."f  It 
was  so  throughout  'New  England.  Of  the  three  friends,  Da- 
venport alone  survived.  The  other  two  had  died  not  many 
months  belbre,  "  lovely  and  pleasant "  as  they  had  been  in 
their  lives,  and  each  ignorant  by  how  small  an  interval  he 
was  divided  from  the  other  in  his  death. 

Eaton  had  fallen  suddenly  in  the  midst  of  the  people  to 
whom  he  had  been  as  a  father,  and  in  the  plantation  which 
he  had  never  had  one  wish  to  leave  ;:j:  and  devout  men  had 
carried  him  with  great  lamentation  to  his  burial,  and  over 


*  See  Appendix,  IV,  "  The  Colony  School:' 

f  General  Court's  Address  to  Charles  II,  Hutch.  Coll.,  325. 

:}:  Mather's  Magnalk,  " Life  of  Hopkins"  §  6. 


u 


his  grave  they  had  built  "  a  comely  tomb,  such  as  the  Colony 
apable  of,"  and  on  it  had  written,  reverently, 


was  c 


"  Eaton,  80  famM,  so  wise,  so  meek,  so  just,— 
The  Phoenix  of  our  world,  here  hides  his  dust. 
This  name  forget  New  England  never  must."* 

He  died  in   faith,   giving  commandment  in  his  last   will 
concerning  a  legacy  of  books  to   the  College  that  was  to  be 

set  up.t  .     .  J.     . 

The  home  of  Hopkins  had  never  been  in  the  jurisdiction 
of  New  Haven,  but  in  that  of  Connecticut.  He  was  one  of 
those  that  will  be  among  the  foremost  wherever  they  are  ;  and 
he  had  occupied,  among  the  plantations  on  the  river,  some- 
thing like  the  position  which  Eaton  occupied  in  New  Haven. 
During  most  of  his  residence  in  New  England  he  was  Governor 
of  the  Connecticut  Colony  every  alternate  year ;  he  was  Com- 
missioner of  the  Colony  in  the  Congress  of  the  little  powers ; 
as  a  merchant,  he  pushed  his  trading  stations  up  the  river  and 
into  the  wilderness,  and  founded  the  commerce  in  American 
cotton. :j:  But  with  all  this  prosperity  and  honor,  his  sad 
spirit,  depressed  by  bodily  disease  and  pain,  was  further 
afflicted  by  the  misfortune  of  his  "  dear,  distressed  wife,"  the 
step-daughter  of  his  friend  Eaton.  Only  eight  years  after  the 
first  arrival  of  Hopkins  at  Boston,  in  company  with  Eaton 
and  Davenport,  Governor  Winthrop,  the  elder,  makes  this 
entry  in  his  journal  :§ 

"  Mr.  H.,  Governor  of  Hartford  upon  Connecticut  came  to 
Boston  and  brought  his  wife  with  him  (a  goodly  young  woman 
and  of  speciall  parts)  who  was  fallen  into  a  sad  infirmity,  the 
loss  of  her  understanding  and  reason  which  had  been  growing 

•  The  above  inscription  is  still  to  be  read  on  a  tablet  in  the  New  Haven 
Burying  (around.  Kingsley's  Historical  Discourse,  11.  I  find  that  I  had  commit- 
ted a  sliglit  anachronism  here.  The  "  comely  tomb  "  was  ordered  to  be  erected  soon 
after  the  death  of  tlie  Governor.  But  the  "engraving''''  of  it  was  referred  to 
the  magistrates  with  the  advice  of  the  elders,  in  1G61.  New  Haven  Col.  Rec, 
H,  233,  408. 

f  See  a  copy  of  part  of  tlie  will  in  Bacon's  Historical  Discourses,  p.  354. 

X  Records  of  Connecticut,  Vol.  I,  pp.  69,  76. 

§  Winthrop's  New  England,  H.  216. 


26 

on  lier  divers  years,  by  occasion  of  giving  herself  wholly  to 
reading  and  writing,  having  written  many  books."  And  he 
intimates  that  it  was  through  the  tenderness  and  love  of  her 
husband,  who  was  loth  to  deny  her  her  favorite  studies,  that 
her  disease  became  seated  and  aggravated.  "  He  brought 
her  to  Boston,  and  left  her  with  her  brother,  one  Mr.  Yale^  a 
merchant,  to  try  what  means  might  be  had  here  for  her.  But 
no  help  could  be  had." 

Is  it  strange  that  to  the  afflicted  heart  of  Hopkins  should 
come  feelings  of  homesickness  and  discouragement  ?  Three 
years  after  the  date  of  the  above  entry,  he  writes  to  Governor 
Winthrop,*  in  reply  to  some  remonstrances  against  his  re- 
moval, almost  in  the  identical  strain  which  the  poet  has  put 
upon  the  lips  of  the  Puritan  maiden : 

"  still  my  heart  is  so  sad  that  I  wish  myself  back  in  Old  England. 
You  will  say  it  is  wrong,  but  I  cannot  help  it ;  I  almost 
Wish  myself  back  in  Old  England,  I  feel  so  lonely  and  wretched. 

Back  to  Old  England,  not  long  after  this,  he  went,  full  of 
Colonial  honors,  and  was  received  to  a  position  of  the  highest 
trust  and  dignity  in  the  government  of  the  Lord-Protector.  In 
the  midst  of  his  new  honors  he  never  forgot  his  friends  behind 
him  in  the  wilderness.  The  gratitude  of  the  Massachusetts 
Colony  for  his  services  to  them  in  their  relations  with  Crom- 
well, they  have  put  on  public  record.f  In  his  most  religious 
hours  he  had  the  memory  of  ISfew  England  before  him.  "  One 
expression  of  his  heavenly  mind,  a  little  before  his  end,  was, 
*  How  often  have  I  pleased  myself  with  thoughts  of  a  joyful 
meeting  with  my  father  Eaton !  I  remember  with  what 
pleasure  he  would  come  down  the  street  that  he  might 
meet  me  when  I  came  from  Hartford  to  Kew  Haven :  but 
with  how  much  greater  pleasure  shall  we  shortly  meet  one 
another  in  heaven  !'  "J 

*  Hutchinson's  Collection,  p.  225.  See  also  Mather's  Magnalia,  "  Life  of  Hop- 
kins"  %  6. 

f  Letter  of  the  General  Court  of  the  Massachusetts  to  Mr.  Hopkins,  Hutchin- 
son's Collection,  p.  271. 

I  Mather's  Magnalia,  I,  p.  14'7. 


26 

lie  liad  no  cliildren ;  and  New  England  was  his  chief 
lieir.  But  lie  did  not  forget  to  make  provision  for  his 
"dear,  distressed  wife,"  for  whom  he  left,  in  care  of  her 
brother,  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  jper  annum  for  her 
comfortable  maintenance,  ''heartily  entreating  him  to  be 
careful  and  tender  over  her."  At  her  death,  the  sum  of  five 
hundred  pounds  from  his  estate  in  the  Old  England  was  to 
revert  to  the  prospective  College  which  was  already  heir  to 
the  whole  of  his  estate  in  the  New  England,  and  which 
seemed  to  him  to  be  in  a  fair  and  hopeful  way  of  being  es- 
tablished.* 

There  is  a  part  of  this  history  which  I  am  not  sorry  that  the 
small  time  remaining  will  justify  me  in  passing  over  with 
the  briefest  mention,  I  refer  to  the  story  of  the  execution  of 
Hopkins's  will,  and  the  final  settlement  of  his  estate,  be- 
tween the  towns  of  New  Haven,  Hartford,  and  Hadley.  It 
might  be  neither  pleasant  nor  instructive,  before  this  audi- 
ence, to  attempt  to  disentangle  the  complications  by  which 
the  disposal  of  this  charitable  legacy  became  involved  in 
the  unhappy  dissensions  in  the  Hartford  church,  so  that  the 
stronger  party  in  the  church,  being  likewise  stronger  in  the 
State,  (of  Connecticut,)  were  tempted  into  unjust  and  tyran- 
nous dealing  toward  the  Trustees  appointed  in  the  will,  the 
estate  locked  up  under  injunctions,  and  the  accomplishment 
of  the  testator's  intent  delayed,  under  frivolous  pretences, 
for  four  years  longer.  Even  then,  the  trustees  were  compelled 
io  jpurchasc  the  liberty  of  exercising  their  trust,  by  conces- 
sions to  the  powers  ruling  at  Hartford,  and  at  last  to  clinch 
their  bargain  by  threatening  an  appeal  to  Cesar.f     By  such 


*  See  the  "  Last  Will  and  Testament  of  Governor  Hopkins,"  in  Appendix,  No.  11, 
f  Is  it  not  n  proof  of  tlic  stern  resolution  of  the  Colonists,  to  maintain  their 
[)rnrticnl  indopeiidcnco,  tlmt  under  eircumstances  of  such  extreme  provocation 
no  npiienl  was  made  to  the  Britisli  courts  for  the  righting  of  the  injustice? 

The  letters  of  Elder  Goodwin,  on  behalf  of  the  Trustees,  to  the  authorities  at 
Hartford,  are  remarkable  for  explicitness  and  directness  of  expression,  mingled 
with  Bo  much  of  courtesy  as  the  occasion  demanded,  but  no  more  than  conscience 
would  permit.  It  is  in  one  of  these  that  he  makes  distinct  allusion  to  the  pos- 
hibility  of  n'drc«s  in  a  Court  of  Chancery.     See  Appendix,  V. 


27 

delays,  the  settlement  of  the  estate  was  brought  into  the 
depressed  and  disturbed  period  of  the  last  two  or  tliree  years 
of  the  separate  existence  of  the  republic  of  New  Haven : — a 
period  in  which  all  the  higher  interests  of  the  Colony  lan- 
guished— when  the  Colony  Grammar-School  (which  had 
been  cherished  as  conditional  and  ancillary  to  the  Hopkins 
College  was  reluctantly  given  up,  and  this  Institution  was 
compelled  to  descend  to  a  lower  grade  than  that  which  the 
hopes  of  its  founders  had  intended  for  it,  and  to  be  known  in 
history  as  the  Hopkins  Grammar  School.* 

It  was  a  sore  disappointment  to  the  soul  of  John  Daven- 
port, when  this  dear  project  which  was  to  make  this  town 
of  ]N^ew  Haven  an  university  city,  was  so — apparently — de- 
feated. And  when,  in  addition  to  this,  the  great  wrong  which 
had  long  been  preparing  against  the  life  of  the  little  sover- 
e^'gnty  of  the  New  Haven  jurisdiction,  was  finally  consum- 
mated under  stress  of  domestic  trouble,  and  peril  from  abroad, 
and  the  Colony  of  New  Haven,  which  had  been  founded 
on  the  rights  of  man^  without  fear  or  favor  of  the  king,  was, 
by  virtue  of  a  royal  charter,  absorbed  in  the  Colony  of  Con- 
necticutjf — when  thus  the  model  of  a  Christian  State  to 
which  he  had  given  all  his  noblest  labors,  was  destroyed,  and 
the  object  of  the  pride,  and  hope,  and  believing  prayers  of 
all  his  best  life,  seemed  crushed  and  lost, — I  will  not  say  that 
it  broke  the  old  man's  heart,  for  his  was  one  of  those  stout, 
brave  hearts,  that  never  break ;  but  it  did  sink  like  an  iron 
into  his  soul.  He  turned  his  back  on  "  sweet  fields  "  and 
what  was  more  to  him  than  "  native  land,"  exclaiming,  that 
"  in  New  Haven  Colony  Ghrist^  cause  was  miserably  lost^^'^X 
and  went  down  with  his  gray  hairs  in  sorrow  to  the  grave. 
Haply,  since  that,  the  saint  has  learned  some  new  lessons  of 

*  See  Appendix,  No.  IV,  "  The  Colony  School,"  and  Appendix,  No.  V,  "  Hin- 
drances to  the  Settlement  of  the  Estate  of  Governor  Hopkins,  in  New  England." 

\  For  the  painful  story  of  the  "  annexation "  of  New  Haven  Colony,  with 
documents,  see  Bacon's  Historical  Discourses,  and  Trumbull's  and  HoUister's 
Histories  of  Connecticut, 

X  See  the  remarkable  letter  from  Davenport  to  Major-General  Leverett,  in 
Hutchinson's  Collection,  p.  392. 


patient  waiting  for  God's  long  delay ;  he  has  seen  how,  from 
another  scion  of  the  stock  which  he  had  planted,  there  has 
shot  up  such  a  noble  tree  as  he  had  never  even  hoped  to  look 
upon.  It  is  a  beautiful  compensation  for  the  partial  failure 
of  the  grand  designs  of  Davenport  and  Eaton  and  Hopkins, 
that  the  nephew  of  the  ''  dear,  distressed  wife  "  of  the  latter, 
the  grandson  of  Mrs.  Eaton,  should  go  from  his  native  Jifew 
Ilavcn  and  gathering  up  the  wealth  of  India  should  furnish 
from  it  an  endowment  to  this  Yale  College,  in  the  midst  of 
whose  annual  festivities  we  this  day  rejoice,  and  whose  throng- 
inff  children  we  cono^ratulate,  as  the  elder  Esau  welcomed  the 
returning  bands  of  Jacob,  the  supplanter,  acquiescmg  in  the 
destiny  that  the  elder  should  serve  the  younger.* 

In  the  parting  instructions  which  Davenport  delivered  to 
the  town,  when,  at  a  little  later  period  of  the  history,  he 
committed  the  interests  of  the  Hopkins  School  to  their  care, 
he  was  careful  to  "signify  to  the  town,"  and  cause  to  be 
entered  upon  their  record,  "  that  there  was  £500  more  after 
the  death  of  Mrs.  Hopkins,  which  Mr.  Dally  was  engaged  to 
"see  paid.  These  things,  he  said,  he  acquainted  them  with, 
tliat  if  he  should  die,  they  might  know  the  state  of  things." 
Tlie  curious  process  by  which  this  reversion,  which,  according 
to  the  decision  of  the  trustees  whom  Mr.  Hopkins  had  ap- 
pointed, was  to  be  equally  divided  between  the  schools  in 
New  Haven  and  Iladley,  was  diverted  both  from  their  intent 
and  from  that  of  the  testator,  fortunately  I  am  not  called 
upon  to  narrate.  A  distinguished  scholar,  himself  a  trustee 
of  this  school,  has  discussed  the  whole  history  in  such  wise 
as  to  render  detail  and  argument  alike  unnecessary.f     Suffice 

•  Tlie  celebration  at  which  this  Discourse  was  delivered,  was  held  on  Tuesday 
of  the  '•  Coiniiienceinent  Week  "  of  Yale  College.  The  Governor  Elihu  Yale, 
from  whom  the  ColU'<::e  takes  its  name,  was  son  of  Thomas  Yale,  merchant,  of 
New  IIaveI^  who  was  the  youngest  of  the  three  step-children  of  Governor  Eaton. 
Not  Ion;:,'  after  (lovcrnor  Eaton's  death,  his  widow  returned  to  England,  with 
her  family,  her  grandson  Elilm  being  about  ten  years  o\<\.— Bacon's  Historical 
JJiitcourseii,  p.  357. 

f  See  tlie  Review  of  President  Quincy's  History  of  Harvard  University,  by 
rrofe«8or  Kingwley,  in  the  Biblical  Rei)ository,  Vols.  XVIII,  XIX.  The  history 
of  the  "  Educational  Bequests  of  Governor  Uopkins,"  has  also  been  written  by 


(  29 

it  to  say,  in  brief,  that  the  widow  of  the  testator  survived,  as 
annuitants  are  wont,  to  an  exorbitant  old  age ;  so  old,  that 
when  at  last  she  died,  the  legatees,  or  their  successors,  had 
forgotten  the  legacy  which  was  conditioned  on  her  death. 
Through  somebody's  sharp  practice,  a  decree  in  Chancery 
was  sought  for,  by  which  this  entire  legacy  should  become  the 
property  of  the  College  in  the  Massachusetts  Colony.  The 
Trustees  of  this  School  were  awakened  by  the  feeling  that 
their  property  was  slipping  from  their  fingers,  and  plied  the 
Court  of  Chancery  too  late  with  petition  and  remonstrance. 
The  decree  was  granted,  and  the  legacy  passed  to  Harvard 
College.  With  a  pleasing  euphemism,  the  historian  of  that 
ancient  institution,  in  speaking  of  this  accession  to  their 
funds,  says  that  it  "  was  destined  to  find  its  sphere  of  useful- 
ness in  Harvard  College  or  the  vicinity."  The  reviewer 
whose  keen  criticism  has  traced  the  history  of  the  bequest, 
and  of  whom  it  has  been  said  that  his  sharpest  sayings  were 
never  put  in  print,  remarked,  sotto  voce,  on  the  historian's  view 
of  predestinatio?i, — that  it  seemed  to  be  much  the  same  with 
what  Lady  Macbeth  intended  by  the  expression — 

"  Fate and  metaphysical  aid." 

The  infancy  of  the  Institution  was  beset  with  other  than 
financial  troubles.  For  a  few  months  the  Colony  Grammar- 
School  was  maintained,  but  '^  considering  the  distraction  of 
the  time,"  was  finally  laid  down  in  November,  1662  ;  and 
thenceforward  until  April,  1664,  all  arrangements  for  schools 
were  made  in  the  meetings  of  the  town,  not  without  urgent 
influence  from  the  aged  Davenport,  in  favor  of  the  highest 
attainable  grade  of  education.  When,  at  last,  in  1664,  the 
Connecticut  jurisdiction  had  been  prevailed  on  by  remon- 
strances and  concessions  to  remove  the  hindrances  with  which 
they  had  prevented  the  settlement  of  the  estate,   Mr.  Da- 


Mr.  Barnard,  in  liis  "Report  to  the  General  Assembly"  of  Connecticut,  1853. 
This  elaborate  work  has  already  been  referred  to  under  the  title  of  "  Education 
in  Connecticut."  A  copy  of  the  decree  in  Chancery,  is  entered '  on  the  old  Re- 
cord book  of  the  School,  in  the  handwriting  of  Professor  Kingsley. 


30 

venport  brought  his  share  of  the  remainder,  it  being  "some- 
tliing  damnified  "  by  these  delays,  and  reduced  by  the  exactions 
of  the  authorities  at  Hartford,  and  tendered  it— not  dow  to 
the  Colony,  which  was  ready  to  vanish  away— but  to  the 
t<mn  of  New  naven,*  "  to  be  improved  for  that  end  for 
which  it  was  given  by  Mr.  Hopkins." 

Tlie  town  accepted  the  tender,  and  appointed,  as  its  Trus- 
tees, "  the  Magistrates,  Elders,  Deacons,  and  Deputies  of  the 
Court." 

Tlie  lingering  hope,  that  is  still  visible  in  the  record  of 
this  business,  that  the  Institution  as  thus  reestablished  might 
maintain  a  rank  superior  to  that  of  a  preparatory  school, 
was  frustrated  chiefly  by  two  causes  :  the  disturbed  and  dis- 
tressed condition  of  the  Colony,  under  the  oppressive  en- 
croachments of  its  neighbor  Connecticut,  and  the  difficulty 
of  finding  persons  competent  and  willing  to  fill  the  offices  of 
teaching. 

The  record  of  the  first  meeting  of  the  newly  appointed 
Trustees  presents  a  striking  illustration  of  the  first  of  these 
causes.  After  stating  the  business  "  belonging  to  their  trust," 
which  they  had  taken  into  consideration,  it  ends  abruptly : 
"  Some  persons  of  Connecticut  coming  into  the  town,  the 
meeting  broke  up  without  any  further  conclusion." 

The  other  hindrance  to  the  higher  elevation  of  the  Institu- 
tion— the  lack  of  capable  teachers — is  equally  manifest  from 
the  records  both  of  the  Town  and  of  the  School,  dow^n  to  the 
year  1G84.  At  the  laying  down  of  the  Colony  School,  in 
16G2,  it  was  proposed  to  have  a  school-master  at  the  Town's 
charge..  But  the  generous  oflfer  of  a  salary  of  sixty  pounds, 
baeke<l  by  Mr.  Davenport's  personal  eftbrts,  failed  to  secure 
even  a  competent  English  master.  *'The  fittest  that  could 
be  found  for  the  work  "  was  George  Pardee,  who  was  found 
"willing  to  do  what  he  was  able,"  but  who  told  the  town, 
with  great  frankness,  that  "he  had  lost  much  of  what 
learning    he  formerly   had    attained."      He  undertook   "to 


*  The  rocord  of  tliis  trnnsaction,  so  important  to  this  history,  has,  I  believe, 
never  before  been  J)ubli^^lle(.l.     Sec  Appendix,  VI. 


31 

teach  english  and  to  cany  them  on  in  lattine  so  far  as  he 
could ;  also  to  learn  them  to  write.  Some  thing  was  spoken 
about    teaching    arethmeticke    as    very   necessary  in    these 

parts He  was  also  advised  to  be  careful  to  instruct  the 

youths  in  point  of  manners,  there  being  a  great  fault  in  that 
respect,  as  some  exprest."^ 

The  liistory  of  the  first  twenty  years  of  the  actual  opera- 
tion of  the  School,  is  relieved  by  the  successful  rectorate  of 
Mr.  Samuel  Street ;  and  this  is  illustrated  by  one  of  the  last 
and  most  useful  public  services  to  the  town,  that  is  recorded 
of  John  Davenport.  At  a  town-meeting  in  February,  1668, 
"  Mr.  John  Davenport,  senior,  came  into  the  meeting,  and 
desired  to  speak  something  concerning  the  school ;  and  first 
propounded  to  the  town,  whether  they  would  send  their  chil- 
dren to  the  school,  to  be  taught  for  the  fitting  them  for  the 
service  of  God,  in  church  and  commonwealth.  If  they  would, 
then,  he  said  that  the  grant  of  that  part  of  Mr,  Hopkins  his 
estate,  formerly  made  to  this  town,  stands  good ;  but  if  not. 


*  From  the  Records  which  are  quoted  in  Appendix,  YII,  it  appears  that  the 
incumbency  of  George  Pardee  was  something  more  than  a  momentary  make- 
shift for  this  single  emergency,  and  that,  notwithstanding  the  zealous  efforts  of 
Mr.  Davenport,  and  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Hopkins  Fund,  to  secure  a  grammar- 
school  teacher, — efforts  which  do  not  seem  to  have  been  hindered  by  any  scruples 
for  the  sensibilities  of  Master  Pardee, — he  continued  through  a  period  of  at  least 
thirteen  years,  to  be  the  main  reliance  of  the  town,  for  the  instruction  of  their 
youth.  The  report  of  the  results  of  his  labors  is  certainly  expressed  in  a  style  of 
faint  praise:  "Several  persons  say  thej^  find  some  fruit  of  his  labors  in  their 
children,  and  did  desire  he  might  go  on  yet  longer." 

The  continuance  of  Master  Pardee's  labors  had  the  effect,  as  the  Records  show, 
to  bring  the  town  into  collision  successively  with  the  Trustees  of  the  Hopkins 
estate,  and  with  the  law  of  Connecticut  which  required  '*  in  every  county  a 
grammar-school,  the  master  whereof  should  be  able  to  instruct  youths  so  far  as 
they  ma}'- be  fitted  for  College."  {Barnard's  Education  in  Connecticut,  p.  15.) 
It  is  only  fair  to  acknowledge,  here,  that  the  effect  upon  New  Haven  of  the  union 
with  Connecticut  was  not  altogether  and  in  all  respects  to  discourage  and  break 
down.  The  wholesome  law  above  mentioned  (which  seems,  by  the  way,  to 
have  been  far  more  strictly  executed  in  Kew  Haven  than  in  Hartford — see  Ap- 
pendix, yi) — was  one  of  the  securities  by  which,  in  an  age  in  which  "  Barbarism 
was  the  first  danger,"  learning  was  saved  (to  quote  the  preamble  of  an  early 
Connecticut  law)  from  being  ''  buried  in  the  graves  of  our  forefatliers." 


32 

then  it  is  void  ;  because  it  attains  not  the  end  of  the  donor. 
Therefore,  he  desired  they  would  express  themselves.  Upon 
which  Roger  Ailing  declared  his  purpose  of  bringing  up  one 
of  liis  sons  to  learning;  also  Henry  Glover  one  of  Mr.  Wil- 
liam Kussell's,  John  Winston,  Mr.  Hodshon,  Thomas  Trow- 
bridge, David  Atwater,  Thomas  Meeks[Mix;]  and  Mr.  Au- 
gur said  that  he  intended  to  send  for  a  kinsman  from  En- 
gland. Mr.  Samuel  Street  declared,  that  there  were  eight  at 
present  in  Latin,  and  three  more  would  come  in  summer,  and 
two  more  before  next  winter.  Upon  which  Mr.  Davenport 
seemed  to  be  satisfied ;  but  yet  declared,  that  he  must  always 
reserve  a  negative  voice,  that  nothing  be  done  contrary  to  the 
true  intent  of  the  donor,  and  it  [the  donation]  be  improved 
only  for  that  use,  and,  therefore,  while  it  can  be  so  improved 
here  it  shall  be  settled  here.  But  if  'New  Haven  will  neg- 
lect their  own  good  herein,  he  must  improve  it  otherwise, 
unto  that  end  it  may  answer  the  will  of  the  dead."* 

The  principal  record  which  remains  of  the  history  of  the 
School  from  the  year  1684  to  the  present  time,  is  the  record 
of  the  succession  of  its  teachers.  For  this  period  of  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy-six  years,  which  includes  times  of  war,  of 
revolution,  and  of  general  decline  in  all  public  interests, 
it  is  an  interesting  fact  that  this  seminary  has  never  lacked  a 
lil)e rally  educated  man — a  college  graduate — to  its  teacher. 
On  the  roll  of  its  teachers  are  names  illustrious  in  the  history 
of  American  education  and  literature.  Under  the  rectorship 
of  some  of  these,  the  School  has  risen  to  a  high  degree  of 
usefulness  and  fame.  At  other  times  it  has  declined  again 
almost  to  extinction.f  The  position  of  Eector  seems  to  have 
been  accepted,  in  most  instances,  simply  to  occupy  a  brief 
interval  between  the  close  of  academical  and  the  beffinning: 
of  professional  life.     The  reminiscences  of  surviving  teachers 


•  Sec  rrofcssor  Kingslcy.'s  Historical  Discourse,  Appendix  H,  for  an  ac- 
count of  the  "  after  improvements "  of  the  youths  thus  devoted  to  learning. 
Professor  Kingsk-y  justly  adds,  that  "  the  advantage  to  the  Colony  from  this 
Hinglc  effort  in  behalf  of  liberal  education,  cannot  be  easily  estimated." 

f  Some  of  the  more  interesting  details  of  this  history,  such  as  could  not  con- 
veniently be  incorporated  in  a  popular  discourse,  may  be  found  in  the  Ap- 
pendix, VII. 


33 

and  scholars,  prove  that  the  disadvantages  which  might  have 
been  anticipated  from  frequent  and  incessant  changes,  did 
not  fail  to  result.  Wliat  the  energy  and  ability  of  one 
teacher  accomplished,  was  often  lost  under  the  rectorship  of 
an  ill-qualified  successor ; — what  was  lost  in  one  administra- 
tion was  hardly  recovered  in  another.  '^  The  evil  that  men 
did  lived  after  them ;  the  good "  was  less  enduring.  The 
tendency  of  the  Institution  was  continually  towards  de- 
moralization.^^ 

In   this  exigency  the   felt  want  of  the  Trustees  was  the 


*  The  following  authentic  anecdotes  illustrate  the  condition  of  the  School 
during  a  large  part  of  its  history  : 

Dr.  Azel  Backus,  of  the  Class  of  ITSY,  having  charge  of  the  School  a  few  days 
in  behalf  of  a  friend,  attempted  to  chastise  a  disorderly  boy,  but  found  the  whole 
School  in  motion  to  assault  him.  Retiring  to  a  corner  of  the  room,  as  the  as- 
sailants approached,  that  able  and  distinguished  polemic  encountered  and  defeated 
the  entire  force. 

I  am  indebted  for  the  above  to  a  letter  of  Mr.  Olmstead,  from  which  I  make 
the  following  extract : 

"Dr.  James  Murdock,  of  the  Class  of  1797,  told  me  that  he  spent  one-third  of 
his  time,  the  first  quarter,  in  trpng  to  persuade  the  boys  to  behave  with  pro- 
priety, without  success,  when  he  apphed  the  rod  vigorously  for  a  while,  and 
then  let  matters  slide.  Professor  Kingsley  informed  me  that  President  Dwight 
cautioned  him  against  taking  the  School,  for  it  was  so  bad  that  it  would  proba- 
bly injure  his  reputation.  This  was  in  1799.  A  member  of  the  Class  of  1815 
told  me  that  a  boy  whom  he  attempted  to  chastise  the  first  day  of  his  service, 
ran  out  of  the  house,  and  that  he  chased  him  home  and  punished  him  in  his 
father's  yard.  Such  facts  may  aid  you  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  olden  and  the 
later  time." 

The  letter  of  Mr.  Olmstead  here  quoted,  contains  his  reminiscences  of  his 
administration  at  the  Hopkins  Grammar  School,  and  ought  to  be  printed  here  in 
full,  if  the  modesty  of  its  author  would  permit  it. 

The  personal  recollections  of  surviving  teachers  and  scholars  show  exceptions 
to  the  general  prevalence  of  disorder  in  the  School.  Many  of  these  recollections 
are  on  record,  ha^-ing  been  gathered  by  the  care  of  Mr.  W^hiton,  the  present 
Rector  of  the  School,  and  are  in  his  possession.  .  Some  of  them  appear  in  Ap- 
pendix, YIII,  and  others  were  recounted  at  the  supper  which  followed  the  delivery 
of  this  discourse.  The  late  Professor  Goodrich,  during  the  period  of  his  rec- 
torate,  devoted  himself  with  great  energy  to  its  duties,  and  with  good  success. 
It  was  at  this  time  that  he  projected  a  series  of  school-books,  of  which,  there 
were  afterwards  published  a  Greek  Grammar,  and  a  rudimentary  book  in  both 
Greek  and  Latin.  I  learned  these  and  other  facts  in  an  interview  which  it  was 
my  privilege  to  have  with  Dr.  Goodrich  before  his  lamented  death. 

3 


34 

services  of  ouc  to  whom  the  teaching  of  the  School  should 
be,  not  a  mere  temporary  expedient,  but  a  life-long  study  and 
delight ;  who  to  the  attainments  of  the  scholar,  and  the  ac- 
complisliments  of  the  professional  teacher,  sliould  add  the 
amenities  of  the  gentleman,  the  firmness  of  the  magistrate 
in  his  little  commonwealth,  and  the  gentleness  and  affection- 
ate zeal  which  are  inspired  by  an  unfeigned  Christian  love. 
Is  it  needful  here  to  add  that  this  desideratum  was  found,  and 
more?  The  history  of  the  School  since  1838,— the  improve- 
ment of  its  little  property,  the  establishment  of  its  honor- 
able reputation,  the  elevation  of  its  standard  of  scholarship, 
the  subjection  of  its  notoriously  intractable  spirit  by  the 
mere  force  of  dignified  and  Christian  example  and  precept, 
the  preparation  for  a  work  of  divine  grace  which  wrought 
in  the  hearts  of  the  youth  gathered  in  it,  making  the  teacher's 
heart  to  sing  the  Nunc  Dimittis — these  are  among  the 
honors  with  which  a  kind  Providence  has  adorned  the  happy 
old  age  of  Hawley  Ol:mstead. 

To  have  taken  the  School  from  his  hands,  and  from  the 
enviable  eminence  to  which  he  had  brought  it,  to  have  ad- 
vanced it  still  further  in  excellence  and  reputation, — this  is 
and  may  justly  be  the  pride  of  his  successors.  Certainly  we 
have  no  right,  on  this  occasion,  to  withhold  our  grateful  ac- 
knowledgments to  the  thorough  and  faithful  scholar,  the 
skillful  disciplinarian,  and  the  able  and  ingenious  teacher, 
known  and  appreciated  in  this  community,  and  soon  to  be- 
come known  to  the  profession  of  teachers  at  large"'^ — whose 
zeal  and  diligence  have  made  of  this  School  such  a  seminary, 
for  the  successful  training  "  of  hopeful  youths  for  the  public 
service  of  the  country,"  as  it  has  never  been  before, — such 
as  few  other  schools  can  justly  claim  to  be, — such,  almost,  as 
the  ardent  hopes  of  its  founders  would  have  had  it.     It  is  his 


•  Th(!  following  work,  from  the  pen  of  the  present  Rector  of  the  School,  was 
in  press  at  the  time  of  the  celebration,  and  has  since  been  published : 

"  A  Ifandhook  of  Exercises  and  Reading  Lessons^  for  Beginners  in  Latin,  pro- 
gressivelg  iUmtratcd  by  Grammatical  References.  By  James  Morris  Wiiiton,  Rec- 
tor of  the  Hopkins  Grammar  School  in  New  Haven.  Boston  and  Cambridge: 
James  Muiiroi;  tt  Company.     18G0." 


35 

happiness  already  to  have  attained  to  the  praise  which  was 
given  to  the  great  prototype  of  N'ew  Haven  schoolmasters,  of 
whom  "  it  was  noted  that  when  scholars  came  to  be  admitted 
into  the  College^  they  who  came  from  the  Cheeverian  educa- 
tion^ were  generally  the  most  unexceptionable."*  We  could 
not  wish  the  parallel  to  be  complete  between  our  honored 
friend,  the  present  rector,  and  that  "  famous  grammar-school 
master,"  in  all  the  incidents  of  his  life ;  but  we  would  hope 
for  him  like  good  fortune  in  his  AcGideiice  /  and  a  like  long 
and  useful  life  with  that  in  which  his  forerunner  survived, 

"  Till  Time's  scj^the,  waiting  for  him,  rusty  grew." 

If  we  were  in  the  humor  of  complaint,  to-day,  we  might 
find  pretext,  in  the  review  of  this  history  of  two  centuries, 
for  lamenting  that  in  its  largest  sense  the  benediction  which 
was  pronounced  on  its  beginning  has  not  been  fulfilled. 
From  that  beginning  has  not  grown  an  university  whose 
great  fame  should  reach  to  distant  lands,  drawing  thence  the 
pilgrims  and  devotees  of  science  ;  but  only  a  school  in  which 
the  youth  of  the  community  in  which  it  is  planted  should 
be  entered  on  a  course  of  liberal  learning.  And  yet  for  this 
let  no  one  think  of  it  as  the  source  of  any  narrow  or  merely 
local  influence.  Remember  what  a  race  is  this  of  whose 
children  it  has  been  the  nursing-mother  !  Consider  how  their 
pilgrim-instincts  have  impelled  them  hence  to  every  field  of 
honorable  enterprise !  Recall  the  names  of  our  home-born 
heroes — not  the  less  ours  because  they  are  the  world's  and 
fame's — whose  deeds  have  proved  them  worthy  of  their 
royal  blood !  Think  of  these  things,  and  you  will  own  how 
far  and  wide  the  streams  of  its  influence  have  flowed.  The 
ancient  school  sits  to-day  upon  her  humble  throne,  and  calls 
"her  sons  from  far;"  and,  as  she  welcomes  them  from  distant 
states  and  provinces,  may  well  exclaim  to  them — 

"  QuJE  Regio  xon  nostei  plexa  Labokis  !  " 

*  Cotton  Mather's  Fmieral  Sermon. 


INDEX  TO  APPENDIX. 


■♦e»- 


PAGE. 

Mr.  Davenport's  Resignation  of  Governor  Hopkins's  Donation 39 

II. 

Governor  Hopkins's  Last  Will  and  Testament 43 

III. 

Early  Efforts  for  a  College  at  New  Haven 45 

IV. 

The  Colony  Grammar-School 46 

V. 

Hindrances  to  the  Settlement  of  the  Estate  of  Governor  Hopkins  in  New 
England 4^ 

YI. 

Final  Settlement  of  the  Estate 51 

VII. 

The  Rectors  of  the  School 54 

VIII. 

The  Hopkins  Grammar-Schools  at  Hartford  and  Hadley 64 

IX. 

Articles  of  Association  adopted  by  the  Alumni  of  the  Hopkins  Grammar- 
School „ 66 

X. 

Preliminary  Meetings  of  the  Alumni  of  the  Hopkins  Grammar-School 67 

XI. 

Present  Condition  of  the  School 70 


\ 


i 


APPENDIX. 


I. 

ME.  DAYENPOEt's  EE3IGNATI0:f;r  OF  GOV.  HOPKETs's  DONATION.^ 

A  writeing  was  p''esented  by  the  Reuerend  M''.  John  Davenport  as  followeth, 
Quod  f(elix  faustumq  ;  sit,  ! 
On  the  4*^  day  of  the  4*''  Moneth  1660,  Jo"  Davenport,   pastor  to  the 
church  of  Christ  at  N'ew  haven,  p'sented  to  the  Hon<^'  :  General  Court  at 
Newhaven  as  followeth, 
Memor^""", 

1  That  sundry  yeares  past,  it  was  concluded  by  the  said  general!  court  that 
a  small  colledg,  (such  as  the  day  of  small  things  will  permitt,)  should  be  settled  in 
Newhaven,  for  the  education  of  youth  in  good  litterature,  to  fitt  them  for  pub- 
lick  services  in  church  &.  commonwealth,  as  it  will  appeare  in  the  publicke  re- 
cords. 

2  Herevpon  the  said  John  Davenport  wrote  vnto  our  Hon^.  freind  Edward 
Hopkins  Esq ;,  then  liveing  in  London,  the  result  of  those  consultations ;  in  answere 
wherevnto  the  said  Edward  Hopkins  wrote  vnto  y®  said  John  Davenport  a  letter, 
dated  the  30*'^  of  the  2d  moneth,  called  Aprill,  1656,  beginning  with  these  words, 
"Most  deare  S"",  the  long  continued  respects  I  have  received  from  you,  but  espe- 
*'  cially  the  speakeings  of  the  Lord  to  my  heart  by  you,  have  put  mee  vnder 
"  deepe  obligations  to  love,  <fe  a  returne  of  thankes  beyond  what  I  euer  have  or 
*'  can  expresse  &c,  then  after  other  passages,  (w'^'*  being  secretts  hinder  mee 
"  from  shewing  his  letter,)  he  added  a  declaration  of  his  purpose  in  reference  to 
"  ye  colledg  about  w^^  I  wrote  vnto  him,  That  w'^^  the  Lord  hath  given  mee  in 
"  those  parts,  I  ever  designed  the  greatest  part  of  it  for  the  furtherance  of  the 
"  worke  of  Christ  in  those  ends  of  the  earth ;  and  if  I  vnderstand  that  a  colledge 
"  is  begun  &,  like  to  be  carried  on  at  Newhaven  for  the  good  of  posterity,  I 


*  In  this  copr,  the  orthography  and  punctuation  of  the  original  record  are  retained,  as  in  Mr. 
Hoadly's  careful  edition  of  the  Colony  Records.  In  case  of  the  other  documents  copied  here,  the 
spelling  has  '  een  modernized. 


40 

"  shall  give  some  encouragm*  therevnto."     These  are  the   very  words  of   his 
letter,  but, 

3  Before  M'.  Hopkins  could  returne  an  answere  to  my  next  letf,  it  pleased 
God  to  finish  his  dayes  in  this  world,  therefore  by  his  last  will  &  testament,  (as 
the  copic  thereof,  transcribed  &  attested  by  M^  Tho.  Yale,  doth  shew,)  he  commit- 
ted the  whole  trust  of  disposing  his  estate  in  these  countryes,  (after  some  personall 
legacies  were  paid  out,)  vnto  the  publick  vses  mentioned,  &  bequeathed  it  to  o*" 
late  lIon<>:  Gouc^no^  Thcoph:  Eaton,  Esq;,  his  father  in  law,  &  to  the  aforesaid 
John  Davenport,  &  ioyned  with  them  in  the  same  trust  Captaine  John  Cullick 
&  M^  William  Goodwin. 

4  It  haveing  jdeased  the  Most  High  to  afflict  this  colony  greatly  by  takeing 
from  it  to  himself  o'  former  euer  hono'"'!  gou'no^  M''.  Eaton,  the  surviving 
trustees  <t  legatees  met  together  to  consider  what  course  they  should  take  for  y^ 
dischar"-e  of  their  trust,  and  agreed  that  each  of  them  should  have  an  inventory 
of  the  aforesaid  testatours  estate  in  New  England,  in  houses,  &  goods,  &  lands, 
(w'''  were  prized  by  some  in  Hartford  intrusted  by  Captaine  Cullick  <fe  Mr. 
Goodwin,)  &  in  debts,  for  the  gathering  in  whereof  some  attorneys  were  constitu- 
ted, impowered  &  imployed,  by  the  three  surviving  trustees,  as  the  writeing  in 
the  magistrates  hands  will  shew. 

5  Afterward  at  another  meeting  of  the  said  trustees,  they  considering  that  by 
the  will  of  the  dead,  they  are  ioyned  together  in  one  common  trust,  agreed  to  act 
w*''  mutuall  consent  in  prformance  thereof,  and  considering  y^  by  the  will  of  the 
testatour,  two  of  Newhaven  were  ioyned  with  two  of  Hartford,  &  y'  M^  Hop- 
kins had  declared  his  purpose  to  further  the  colledg  intended  at  Newhaven, 
they  agreed  that  one  half  of  that  estate  w<^^  should  be  gathered  in,  should  be 
paid  vnto  ^1'.  Davenport  for  Newhaven,  the  other  half  to  Captaine  Cullick  and 
M'.  Goodwin,  to  be  improued  for  y®  vses  &  ends  forenoted,  where  they  should 
have  power  to  performe  their  trust,  vf'^^  because  they  could  not  expect  to  have  at 
Hartford,  they  concluded  it  would  be  best  done  by  them  in  that  new  plantation 
vnto  w'**  sundry  of  Hartford  were  to  remoue  &  were  now^  gone,  yet  they  agreed 
that  out  of  the  whole,  an  100*'  should  be  given  to  the  colledg  at  Cambridg  in  the 
Bay,  the  estate  being  1000**,  as  Captaine  Cullick  beleeued  it  would  bee,  w"=*» 
we  now  see  cause  to  doubt,  by  reason  of  the  sequestrations  laid  rpon  that  estate 
and  still  continued  by  the  generall  court  at  Hartford,  wherevpon  some  refuse  to 
pay  their  debts,  &  others  forsake  the  purchases  they  had  made,  to  their  great 
hindernnce  of  j)forming  the  will  of  the  deceased  according  to  the  trust  committed 
to  them,  &,  to  the  endamagem*  of  the  estate. 

6  The  said  John  1  )avenport  acquainted  y«  other  two  trustees  with  his  purpose 
to  interest  the  Honored  Magistrates  &  Elders  of  this  Colony  in  y®  disposall  of 
that  j)art  of  the  estate  that  was  by  their  agreement  to  be  paid  therevnto,  for 
l»roinoueing  the  coUedg-worke  in  a  graduall  way,  for  the  education  of  youth  in 
good  literature,  so  farr  as  he  might  w^^  i)'-serving  in  himself  y^  power  committed 
to  him  for  the  discharge  of  his  trust.  They  c(msented  therevnto.  Accordingly 
on  y«  elleetion  day,  it  being  the  'MY^  day  of  the  third  moneth,  he  delivered  vp 
into  the  hands  of  the  Hon'':  Gouerno""  &  Magistrates  the  writeings  that  concerne 
this  businesse.  (viz.  the  copie  of  M^  Hopkins  his  last  will  <fe  testam*  <fe  y^  inven- 
tory of  his  estate  in  New  England,  and  the  apprizm*  of  his  goods,  &  the  write- 


r       41 


ings  signed  by  y^  snrviveing  trustees  for  their  attornj-es,  &  some  letters  between 
the  other  trustees  &  himself,)  adding  also  his  desire  of  some  partieulers  for  the  well 
performing  of  the  trust,  as  followeth, 

1  He  desireth  of  Newhaven  towne,  that  the  rent  of  the  Oj'ster-shell-feild, 
formerly  seperated  <fe  reserved  for  y«  vse  cfe  benifit  of  a  colledge,  be  paid  from 
this  time  forward  towards  the  makeing  of  some  stocke  for  disbursment  of 
necessary  charges  towards  y«  colledg  til  it  be  set  vp,  &  afterwards  to  continue 
for  an  yearly  rent  as  belonging  to  it,  vnder  the  name  tfe  title  of  colledg  land. 

2  That  if  no  place  can  be  found  more  convenient,  M'  * .  Eldreds  lott  be  given 
for  the  vse  of  the  colledg,  &  of  y®  colony  grammer  schole,  if  it  be  in  this  towne, 
else  onel}^  for  the  colledge. 

3  That  parents  will  keepe  such  of  their  sonns  constantly  to  learning  in  the 
schooles  whom  they  intend  to  traine  vp  for  publick  serviceablenes,  &  that  all 
their  sonnes  may  learn  at  the  least  to  write  and  cast  vp  accounts  competently, 
tfe  may  make  some  entrance  into  y®  Lattine  tongue. 

4  That  if  the  colony  settle  40^'  per  annum  for  a  common  schoole  cfe  shall  add  an 
100^'  to  be  paid  towards  y«  building  or  buying  of  a  schoole  house  and  library  in 
this  towne,  seeing  thereby  this  towne  will  be  freed  from  the  charges  which  they 
have  beene  at  hitherto  to  maintaine  a  towne  schoole,  they  would  consider  what 
pa^'t  of  their  former  salary  may  be  still  continued  for  future  supplies  towards  a 
stock  for  necessary  expeuces  about  the  colledg  or  schoole. 

2  He  humbly  desireth  the  Hon""^  General  Court  of  y«  Colony  of  Newhaven, 
fiy-sf,  that  the  40^ »  per  annum  formerly  agreed  vpon  to  be  paid  by  the  seuerall 
plantations  for  a  common  grammer-schoole,  be  now  settled  in  one  of  the  plantations, 
W'C^  they  shall  judge  fittest,  &  that  a  schoolemaster  may  forthwith  be  prouided 
to  teach  the  three  languages,  Lattine,  Greeke  <fe  Hebrew,  soe  far  as  shall  be 
necessary  to  p''pare  them  for  the  colledge,  cfe  that  if  it  can  be  accomplished,  that 
such  a  schoolemaster  be  settled  by  the  end  of  this  summer  or  the  beginning  of 
winter,  the  payments  from  y®  seuerall  plantations  may  begin  from  this  time. 

Secondly,  that  if  the  common  schoole  be  settled  in  this  towne,  the  Hon'''^  Gouer- 
no"^,  Magistrates,  Elders  and  Deputies,  would  solemnly  and  together  visit  the 
grammer  schoole,  once  euery  yeare  at  the  court  for  elections,  to  examine  y® 
schollers  pfficiency  in  learning. 

Thirdly,  y^  for  y®  payments  to  bee  made  by  the  jjlantations  for  the  schoole, 
or  out  of  M"".  Hopkins  estate  towards  the  colledge,  one  be  chosen  by  themselues, 
\Tider  the  name  <fe  title  of  Steward  or  Receiver  for  the  schoole  &  colledg,  to  whom 
suchpaym**  may  be  made,  w'^  full  power  given  him  by  the  court  to  demand 
what  is  due  <fe  to  prosecute  in  case  of  neglect,  <fe  to  give  acquittances  in  case  of  due 
paym*  *  received,  &  to  give  his  account  yearely  to  the  court,  &  to  dispose  of 
what  he  receiveth  in  such  provisions  as  cannot  be  well  kept,  in  the  best  way  for 
y«  aforesaid  vses,  according  to  advice. 

Fourthly,  that  vnto  that  end  a  committee  of  church  members  be  chosen,  to  meet 
together  <fe  consult  &  advise,  in  emergent,  difficult  cases,  that  may  concerne  y« 
schoole  or  colledge  cfe  which  cannot  be  well  delayed  til  y«  meeting  of  the  general 
court,  the  gouerno'"  being  alwayes  the  cheife  of  that  committee. 

Fiftly,  the  sd  John  Davenport  desireth  y*  while  it  iway  please  (jod,  to  con- 


42 

tinuc  his  life  &  abode  in  this  place,  (to  the  end  that  he  may  y^  better  performe  his 
trust,)  in  reference  to  the  colledge,  that  he  be  alwayes  consulted  in  difficult  cases, 
<fe  have  the  power  of  a  negative  vote,  to  hinder  any  thing  from  being  acted  w^^* 
he  sliall  proue  by  good  reason  to  be  p'judiciall  to  the  true  intendment  of  the 
testatour,  and  to  the  true  end  of  this  worke. 

Sixth/,  that  certaine  orders  be  speedily  made  for  the  schoole,  and  when  the 
colledge  shall  proceed,  for  it  also,  that  y^  education  of  youth  may  be  carried  on 
Butably  to  Christs  ends,  by  y«  counsail  of  the  teaching  elders  in  this  colony ;  and 
that  what  they  sliall  conclude  with  consent,  being  approued  by  y®  hon'^ed  magis- 
trates, be  ratified  by  the  General  Court. 

Seaventhly,  because  it  is  requisite  that  the  WTiteings  w"=^  concerne  M^  Hopkins 
his  estate  be  safely  kept,  in  order  there^-nto  the  said  John  Davenport  desireth 
that  a  convenient  chest  be  made,  with  2  locks  <fe  2  keies,  &  be  placed  in  y«  house 
of  ye  gouerno""  or  of  the  steward,  in  some  safe  roome,  til  a  more  publick  place 
(as  a  library  or  the  like)  may  be  p''pared,  cfe  that  one  keye  be  in  the  hand  of  the 
gouernor,  the  other  in  y^  stewards  hand ;  that  in  this  chest  all  the  writeings  now- 
delivered  by  him  to  the  magistrates  may  be  kept,  <fe  all  other  bills,  bonds,  acc- 
quitances,  orders,  or  whatsoeuer  writeings  that  may  concerne  this  busines  be 
put  and  kept  there,  and  that  some  place  may  be  agreed  on  where  the  steward  or 
receiver  may  la}'  vp  such  prouisions  as  may  be  paid  in,  til  they  may  bee  disposed 
of  for  the  good  of  the  schoole  or  colledge. 

Eightly^  because  o''  sight  is  narrow  &  weake  in  viewing  and  discerning  the 
compasse  of  things  that  are  before  vs,  much  more  in  foreseeing  future  contin- 
gencies, he  further  craveth  liberty  for  himself  &  other  elders  of  this  colony,  to 
propound  to  the  Hon''<J  Governo""  &  Magistrates,  what  hereafter  may  be  found  to 
be  conducible  to  the  well  carrying  on  of  this  trust  according  to  the  ends  pro- 
posed, cfe  y*  sucli  proposals  may  be  added  vnto  these,  vnder  the  name  and  title 
of  V8EFUL  ADDITIONALLS,  and  confirmed  by  the  General  Court. 

Lastly,  he  hopeth  he  shall  not  need  to  add  what  he  expressed  by  word  of 
mouth,  tluit  the  Ilon'^'i  General  Court  wUl  not  suffer  this  gift  to  be  lost  from  the 
colony,  but  as  it  becometh  Fathers  of  the  Commonwealth,  will  vse  all  good  en- 
deavo"  to  get  it  into  their  hands  &  to  assert  their  right  in  it  for  the  common  good, 
that  posterity  may  reape  the  good  fruit  of  their  labours  and  wisdom  and  faith- 
full  nes,  &  y'  Jesus  Christ  may  have  the  service  and  liono"^  of  such  prouision 
made  for  his  people,  in  whom  I  rest. 

To  these  motions  I  desire  that  the  John  Daventort. 

answere  of  the  court,  together  w*^» 
this  writeing,  may  be  kept  among  the 
records  for  y*  schoole  &  colledge. 


r 


43 


II. 


ESQ.,  SOMETIME  GOVERNOR  OF  CONNECTICUT  COLONY,  BUT  DYING 
EST  ENGLAND,  WHICH  WILL  WAS  PROVED  IN  THE  PREROGATIVE 
COURT  IN  LONDON,  THE  30tH  OF  APRIL,  1657.* 

The  sovereign  Lord  of  all  creatures  giving  in  evident  and  strong  intimations 
of  his  pleasure  to  call  me  out  of  this  transitory  life  unto  himself,  it  is  the  desire 
of  me,  Edward  Hopkins,  Esq.,  to  be  in  a  readiness  to  attend  his  call  in  whatsoever 
hour  he  cometh,  both  by  leaving  my  soul  in  the  hands  of  Jesus,  who  only  gives 
boldness  in  that  day,  and  delivers  from  the  wrath  to  come,  and  my  body  to 
comely  burial,  according  to  the  discretion  of  my  executors  and  overseers,  and 
also,  by  settling  my  small  family,  if  it  may  be  so  called,  in  order,  and  in  pursu- 
ance thereof,  do  thus  dispose  of  the  estate  the  Lord  in  mercy  hath  given  me. 

First  my  will  is,  that  my  just  debts  may  be  first  paid  out  of  my  entire  estate, 
where  the  said  debts  shall  be  found  justly  due,  viz,  if  any  debts  shall  be  found  to 
be  justly  due  in  New  England,  that  they  be  paid  out  of  my  estate  there.  And 
if  any  shall  appear  to  be  due  here  in  Old  England,  that  they  be  paid  out  of  my 
estate  here. 

As  for  the  estate  I  have  in  New  England,  (the  full  account  of  which  I  left  clear  in 
my  book  there,  and  the  care  and  inspection  whereof  was  committed  to  my  loving 
friend,  Mr.  John  CuUick,)  I  do  in  this  manner  dispose :  Item,  I  do  give  and  be- 
queath unto  the  eldest  child  of  Mrs.  Mary  Newton,  wife  to  Mr,  Roger  Newton 
of  Farmington,  and  daughter  to  Mr.  Thomas  Hooker,  deceased,  the  sum  of  £30 ; 
also,  £30  unto  the  eldest  child  of  Mr.  John  Cullick  by  Elizabeth  his  present 
wife.  Item,  I  do  give  and  bequeath  to  Mrs.  Sarah  Wilson,  the  wife  of 
Mr.  John  Wilson,  preacher  of  the  gospel,  and  daughter  of  my  dear  pastor,  Mr. 
Hooker,  my  farm  at  Farmington,  with  all  the  houses,  outhouses,  buildings,  lands, 
&c.,  belonging  thereunto,  to  the  use  of  her  and  the  heirs  of  her  body  forever. 
I  do  also  give  unto  Mrs.  Susan  Hooker,  the  relict  of  Mr.  Thomas  Hooker,  all 
such  debts  as  are  due  to  me  from  her,  upon  the  account  I  left  in  New  England. 
And  the  residue  of  my  estate  there  I  do  hereby  give  and  bequeath  to  my  father, 
Theophilus  Eaton,  Esq.,  Mr.  John  Davenport,  Mr.  John  Cullick,  and  Mr.  William 
Goodwin,  in  full  assurance  of  their  trust  and  faithfulness  in  disposing  of  it  ac- 
cording to  the  true  intent  and  purpose  of  me,  the  said  Edward  Hopkins,  which 
is,  to  give  some  encouragement  in  those  foreign  plantations  for  the  breeding  up 
of  hopeful  youths,  both  at  the  grammar  school  and  college,  for  the  public  service  of 
the  country  in  future  times.  And  as  for  the  estate  the  Lord  hath  given  me  in  this 
England,  I  thus  dispose,  and  my  will  is,  that  £150  per  annum  be  yearly  paid 
by  my  executor  to  Mr.  David  Yale,  brother  to  my  dear  distressed  wife,  for  her 
comfortable  maintenance,  and  to  be  disposed  of  by  him  for  her  good,  she  not 


*  From  the  copy  in  the  handwriting  of  Governor  Jones,  in  the  Record  Book  of  the  School. 


44 

beiii^  in  a  fit  condition  to  manage  it  herself;  and  I  do  heartily  entreat  him  to  be 
careful  and  tender  over  her ;  and  my  will  is,  that  this  be  paid  quarterly  by 
£37.10  each  quarter,  and  continue  to  the  end  of  the  quarter  after  the  death  of  my 
said  wife,  and  that  ray  executor  give  good  security  for  a  punctual  performance 
hereof.  My  will  also  is,  that  the  £30  given  me  by  the  will  and  testament  of  my 
brother  Henry  Hopkins,  lately  deceased,  be  given  to  our  sister  Mrs.  Judith  Eve, 
during  her  natural  life,  and  that  it  be  made  up  to  £50  per  annum  during  her  life. 
I  do  give  to  my  sister  Mrs.  Margaret  Thomson  the  sum  of  £50,  to  be  paid  her 
within  one  year  after  my  decease.  I  do  give  unto  my  nephew  Henry  Thomson 
£800,  whereof  £400  to  be  paid  within  sixteen  months  after  my  decease,  and  the 
other  £400  within  six  months  after  the  decease  of  my  wife.  I  do  likewise  give  and 
bequeath  to  my  niece  Katharine  Thomson,  but  now  Katharine  James,  (over  and 
above  the  portion  of  £500  formerly  given  her,)  £100.  I  do  also  give  and  be- 
queath unto  my  nieces  Elizabeth  and  Patience  Dalley,  unto  each  of  them,  £200, 
provided  they  attend  the  direction  of  their  brother  or  aunts,  or  such  as  are  capa- 
ble to  give  them  advice  in  the  dispose  of  themselves  in  marriage.  I  give  unto 
my  brother  Mr.  David  Yale,  £200 ;  to  my  brother  Mr.  Thomas  Yale,  £200 ;  and 
to  my  sister  Mrs.  Hannah  Eaton,  £200.  My  farther  mind  and  will  is,  that, 
within  six  months  after  the  decease  of  my  wife,  £500  be  made  over  into  New 
England,  according  to  the  advice  of  my  loving  friends  Major  Robert  Thomson 
and  Mr.  Francis  Willoughby,  and  conveyed  into  the  hands  of  the  trustees  before- 
mentioned,  in  farther  prosecution  of  the  aforesaid  public  ends,  which,  in  the 
simi)licity  of  my  heart,  are  for  the  upholding  and  promoting  the  kingdom  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  those  parts  of  the  earth.  I  do  further  give  unto  my  be- 
loved wife  a  bed,  with  all  the  furniture  belonging  unto  it,  for  herself  to  lie  on, 
and  another  for  the  servant  maid  that  waits  on  her,  and  £20  in  plate  for  her 
present  use,  besides  one-third  part  of  all  my  household  goods.  I  give  unto  Mr. 
John  Davenport,  Mr.  Theophilus  Eaton,  and  Mr.  Cullick,  each  of  them,  £20,  to  be 
made  over  to  them  into  New  England  where  they  are ;  and  my  will  and  pleasure 
is,  that  £20  be  put  into  a  piece  of  plate,  and  presented  in  my  name  to  my  honored 
friend  Dr.  Wright,  to  whom  I  owe  more  than  much  engaged,  desiring  him  to  accept 
of  it  only  as  a  tei^timony  of  my  respects.  I  do  give  unto  my  servant  James  Porter, 
£10 ;  unto  my  maid  Margaret,  £5  ;  unto  my  maid  Mary,  40s.  I  do  give  unto  my  hon- 
ored and  loving  friends  Major  Robert  Thomson  and  Mr.  Francis  Willoughby,  £20 
apiece,  in  a  i)iece  of  plate,  as  a  token  of  my  respects  unto  them ;  and  I  do  give 
unto  my  servant  Thomas  Haytor,  £20.  I  do  give  unto  my  sister  Yale,  the  wife  of 
Mr,  David  Yale,  £20 ;  as  also  unto  John  Lello,  a  youth  now  with  my  sister  Eve, 
£20,  to  further  him  out  to  be  an  apprentice  to  some  good  trade,  and  £20  more  at 
the  time  of  his  coming  to  his  own  liberty,  to  encourage  him  to  set  up  his  trade, 
if  he  continue  living  so  long.  I  do  give  unto  my  nephew  Henry  Dalley,  master 
of  arts  in  Cambridge,  my  land  and  manor  of  Thickor  in  the  county  of  Essex; 
and,  for  the  payment  of  all  debts,  dues  and  legacies,  do  give  unto  him  all  my 
j)er.s()iml  estute,  and,  by  these  presents,  renouncing  and  making  void  all  other 
wills  and  testaments,  do  declare,  constitute,  and  make  him  my  sole  executor,  and 
my  good  friends  Major  Robert  Thomson  and  Mr.  Francis  Willoughby  overseers, 
of  tliis  my  last  will  and  testament.  Signed,  sealed,  declared  and  published  by 
th(^  Raid  Edward  Hopkins.  Esq.,  at  his  house  at  London,  on  the  1th  day  of  March 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1657,  to  be  his  last  will  and  testament. 


( 


^  45 


III. 


EARLY   EFFOKTS   TO   ESTABLISH   A    COLLEGE   AT   NEW   HAVEN. 

1.  The  first  mention  made  of  the  project  of  establishing  a  college  at  New 
Haven,  occurs  under  date  of  1647,  March  23d,  when  a  committee  was  empowered 
"  to  consider  and  reserve  what  lott  they  shall  see  meette  &  most  commodious  for 
a  colledg,  w°h  they  dissire  maye  be  sett  vp  so  soone  as  their  abilitie  will  reach 
therevnto." 

2.  This  provision  was  followed  by  the  offer  of  Stephen  Goodyeare  of  his  house 
"to  that  end;"  as  appears  from  the  speech  of  Mr.  Davenport  in  Town-meeting, 
April  28,  1664,  transcribed  below. 

3.  On  the  occasion  of  this  offer  from  Mr.  Goodyeare,  some  proposition  was 
submitted  to  the  General  Court,  as  is  inferred  (the  colony  records  for  that  period 
being  lost)  from  a  vote  on  the  records  of  Guilford  to  the  effect  that  "the  matter 
about  a  college  at  New  Haven  is  thought  to  be  too  great  a  charge  for  us  of  this 
jurisdiction  to  undergo  alone,  especially  considering  the  unsettled  state  of  New 
Haven  town,  being  publicly  declared  from  the  deliberate  judgment  of  the  most 
understanding  men  to  be  a  place  of  no  comfortable  subsistence  for  the  present 
inhabitants  there  ;  but  if  Connecticut  do  join,  the  planters  are  generally  willing 
to  bear  their  just  proportions  for  erecting  and  maintaining  a  college  there.  How- 
ever they  desire  thanks  to  Mr.  Goodyeare  for  his  proffer  to  the  setting  forward 
of  such  a  work."     See  Mr.  Hoadly's  edition  of  N.  H.  Col.  Records,  H,  370,  note. 

In  dividing  the  honors  of  our  local  history,  it  would  certainly  seem  that  this 
noble  offer  of  Mr.  Stephen  Goodyeare  ought  to  have  more  conspicuous  notice 
than  it  has  received. 

4.  1654,  May  22.  "The  town  is  informed  there  is  some  motion  again  on  foot 
concerning  the  setting  up  of  a  college  here  at  New  Haven."  It  was  "propounded 
to  know  the  Town's  mind  and  whether  they  are  wiUing  to  further  the  work 
by  bearing  a  meet  proportion  of  the  charge  ....  No  man  objected,  but 
all  seemed  willing  provided  that  be  the_  pay  which^  they  can  raise  here  will  do  it." 

5.  1655,  May  21.  At  a  Town  meeting,  the  Governor  acquainted  the  Town  that 
the  College  project  "  is  revived  and  in  some  respects  this  seems  to  be  a  season, 
some  disturbance  being  at  present  at  the  college  in  the  Bay,  and  is  now  in- 
tended to  be  propounded  to  the  General  Court."  "Mr.  Davenport  and  Mr. 
Hooke  were  both  present  upon  this  occasion  and  spoke  much  to  encourage  the 
work."  A  committee  to  solicit  subscriptions  and  report  to  the  magistrates 
and  elders  on  "  the  fifth  day  of  this  week  at  five  o'clock,  at  the  Governor's." 

6.  1654,  May  30th.  The  action  of  New  Haven  in  favor  of  a  college  was  pro- 
pounded to  the  General  Court  by  the  Governor,  who  announced  the  result  of  the 
subscription  as  "  above  £300."  The  Magistrate  and  Deputies  from  Milford  pledged 
their  town  for  £100  to  the  work  ;  but  those  from  the  other  towns  were  not  pre- 
pared to  speak,  and  desired  further  time.     Referred  to  a  committee,  to  meet  at 


46 

New  Haven  on  "  Tuesday  come  fortnight,  which  will  be  the  19th  of  June."     See 
the  whole  record  in  N.  H.  Col.  Rec.  II,  141. 

7.  1655,  July  4th.  "  The  Governor  informed  the  Town  that  this  meeting  had  not 
been  called  but  for  furtherance  of  the  college  work— a  business  of  much  con- 
cernment for  the  good  of  posterity."  He  announced  that  the  other  towns  in  the 
jurisdiction  had  raised  in  all  £240,  which  the  committee  thought  would  pro- 
vide a  house.  Now  there  wants  an  annuity  of  £60  for  the  President,  &c.  The 
Governor  suggests  that  New  Haven  miglit  furnish  this  by  paying  the  £300  which 
they  had  subscribed  in  yearly  installments  of  £60,  "  or  if  the  Town  will,  they  may 
order  to  pay  £00  a  year  out  of  the  Town  Treasury."  This  last  proposition,  with 
some  qualification,  was  agreed  to. 

8.  The  only  further  mention  of  "  the  College  work"  before  the  act  of  Mr.  Da- 
venport in  1660,  is  made  in  the  Town  Records,  July  1,  1658,  in  connection  with 
the  legacy  of  "  books  intended  for  the  use  of  a  college  "  by  the  will  of  Gov.  Eaton. 


TV. 


THE  COLONY  GRA:MMAR-SCH00L. 

The  "common  school"  [i.  e.  common  to  all  the  towns  of  the  jurisdiction) 
generally  spoken  of  in  the  Records  as  "  the  colony  grammar-school,"  has  some- 
times been  confounded  with  the  School  on  the  Hopkins  foundation.  See  Bron- 
son's  History  of  Waterbury,  p.  210 ;  also,  Stearns's  History  of  the  First  Church, 
Newark,  N.  J. 

This  school  was  not  a  part  of  the  original  plan  of  educational  institutions  for 
the  Colony,  but  was  established  by  the  General  Court  (in  1659)  when  it  appeared 
that  their  means  were  not  adequate  to  the  maintenance  of  a  grammar-school  in 
each  plantation.  (New  Haven  Town  Record,  June  21,  1060.)  Guilford  offered 
Mr.  Whitcfield's  house  for  the  use  of  the  school,  but  the  offer  was  dechned,and 
the  school  settled  at  New  Haven.  The  Whitefield  house  is  still  standing  at 
Guilford,  probably  the  oldest  building  in  this  country. 

Mr.  Jeremiah  Peck  was  its  first  and  only  teacher.  He  was  engaged  to  com- 
mence the  school  in  October,  1060,  and  teach  the  scholars  Latin,  Greek,  and 
Hebrew,  and  fit  them  for  College,  and  was  to  receive  the  generous  sum  of  £50 
per  ami.  and  a  dwelling  house.  Mr.  Peck  laid  hold  of  the  business  vigorously, 
with  "  the  reall  intention  to  give  up  himself  to  the  worke  of  a  gramer  schoole." 
In  1661  he  submitted  to  the  Court  sixteen  propositions  which  were  disposed  of 
to  his  satisfaction.  But  it  was  in  vain.  Notwithstanding  that  the  law  concern- 
ing education  of  children  was  read  to  the  inhabitants  at  a  town-meeting  and 
they  exhorted  to  attend  to  this  duty,  "  that  so  God  may  be  honored  by  us  and 
our  house  as  wc  have  been  taught,"  the  school  dwindled  and  languished.     In 


47 

1662  Mr.  Davenport  informed  the  town  that  "  the  Committee  for  the  Colony 
School  made  it  a  great  objection  against  the  keeping  of  it  up  that  this  town  did 
not  send  scholars  to  it,  only  5  or  G  ;  now  therefore  if  you  would  not  have  that 
beneft-  taken  away,  you  should  send  your  children  to  it  constantly,  and  not  take 
them  oil  so  often:  and  further  said  that  he  was  in  the  school  &  it  grieved  him 
to  see  how  few  scholars  was  there," 

In  1662,  November  5th,  at  a  General  Court  for  the  Jurisdiction,  "it  was  pro- 
pounded whether  they  would  continue  the  Colony  School  or  lay  it  down.  The 
business  being  debated  it  came  to  this  conclusion,  that  considering  the  distrac- 
tion of  the  time,  that  the  end  is  not  attained  for  which  it  was  settled,  no  way 
proportionable  to  the  charges  expended,  and  that  the  colony  is  in  expectation  of 
unavoidable  necessary  charges  to  be  expended,*  did  conclude  to  lay  it  down." 

Mr,  Jeremiah  Peck,  the  Teacher,  was  son  of  Deacon  William  Peck,  of  New 
Haven.  He  came  to  this  school  from  a  school  in  Guilford,  and  after  the  Colony 
School  was  laid  down,  became  pastor  successively  at  Saybrook,  at  Greenwich, 
and  at  Waterbury.  Some  account  of  himself  and  his  descendants  has  been  pre- 
pared, with  a  view  to  publication,  by  Hon.  Darius  Peck,  of  Hudson,  N.  Y.,  to 
whom  I  am  indebted  for  information. 


y. 

THE  HINDEAis^CES  TO  THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  THE  HOPKINS  ESTATE. f 

A  bitter  controversy  was  carried  on  in  the  Hartford  Church  from  a  few  years 
"  after  Mr.  Hooker's  decease,"  in  1647,  (Trumbull,  I,  297,)  till  about  1664.  It 
was  raging  at  full  hight  at  the  time  of  the  death  of  Governor  Hopkins,  two  of 
w^hose  Trustees,  Elder  Goodwin  and  Captain  Cullick,  were  leaders  of  "  the  ag- 
grieved party,"  in  opposition  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Stone  and  the  majority  of  the 
church.  Mr,  Davenport,  at  New  Haven,  sympathized  with  the  "  aggrieved 
party,"  and  if  Mr.  Hopkins  had  then  been  living,  and  residing  in  Hartford, 
though  too  much  a  man  of  peace  to  have  been  a  bitter  partisan,  his  sympa- 
thies would  doubtless  have  been  with  those  whom  he  named  as  his  Trustees. 
Indeed,  the  controversy  was  high  before  he  went  to  England,  and  at  the  date  of 
his  will  (1657)  he  must  have  known  the  part  taken  in  it  by  the  men  he  then 
chose  as  his  trustees. 

Messrs.  Goodwin  and  Cullick,  because  (as  Mr.  Davenport  said  in  his  "  Resigna- 
tion ")  they  did  not  expect  to  have  power  at  Hartford  to  perform  their  trust, 
and  perhaps  also,  in  the  excitement  of  the  controversy,  not  feeling  a  very  strong 
desire  to  employ  their  half  of  the  legacy  in  establishing  a  school  in  that  town, 
had  formed  the  desire  to  appropriate  it  to  Iladley,  whither  Mr,  Goodwin  was  ex- 

*  Referring,  doubtless,  to  the  anticipated  contest  with  Connecticut  touching  the  Union, 

+  Much  of  this  narrative  is  taken  from  a  manuscript  History  of  the  Hopkins  Grammar  School  at 

Hartford,  by  the  Rev.  Horace  Hooker,  a  former  teacher  of  that  school,  to  whose  kindness  I  am 

greatly  indebted. 


48 

pocting  soon  to  remove,  at  the  head  of  a  colony  of  the  disaffected  minority  in  the 
Church  of  Hartford. 

These  facts  explain  the  action  from  time  to  time  of  the  General  Court  at 
llartford. 

August  23d,  1G5S,  the  Court  ordered  "that  the  several  towns  where  any  part 
of  the  estates  either  of  Edward  Hopkins,  Esq.,  or  George  Fenwick,  Esq.,  be 
known  to  remain,  shall  speedily  take  inventory  of  said  estate,  and  present  it 
under  the  hands  of  those  who  order  tlie  prudentials  of  the  town,  to  the  Court 
in  October  next."  (Conn.  Col.  Rec.)  This  was  not  done  for  the  aid  or  at  the 
request  of  the  trustees,  for  they  were  "hindered"  by  it.  They  had  already 
an  inventory  of  the  estate.  Mr.  Hopkins  says  in  his  will  that  he  had  left  a 
clear  list  of  it  with  Capt.  Cullick. 

June  loth,  1659.  The  General  Court  "ordered  and  required"  all  per- 
sons having  in  their  possession  any  part  of  these  estates,  to  preserve  it  "in 
their  own  hands,  to  be  accountable  to  this  Court  when  required  thereunto, 
until  the  wills  and  inventories  of  the  said  gentlemen  be  exhibited  into  Court 
and  right  owners  to  the  estate  appear,  and  administration  be  granted,  according 
to  law"  The  effect  of  this  vote  would  naturally  be  what  Mr.  Davenport  com- 
plains it  was,  to  make  those  indebted  to  the  estate  refuse  to  pay  their  debts  to 
the  Trustees,  and  to  lock  up  the  whole  estate  for  safe  keeping  until  a  satisfactory 
share  of  it  was  allotted  to  Hartford, 

1C5'.),  Oct.  6.  'The  last  wills  of  Edward  Hopkins  and  George  Fenwick,  Esqs. 
being  exhibited  into  this  Court,  the  restraints  laid  on  the  estates  were  taken  off, 
and  the  debts  due  the  said  estates  allowed  to  be  gathered  in,  to  prevent  damages 
in  the  estates."  Nevertheless,  after  three  or  four  months  the  sequestration 
was  renewed,  as  appears  under  date  of — 

1659-60,  Feb.  23d.  "  Whereas,  there  has  been  a  repealing  of  the  former  re- 
straint ....  upon  further  consideration  the  Court  orders  that  the  estates  afore- 
said be  secured  within  this  Colony  until  the  said  estates  be  inventoried  and  the 
inventories  presented,  and  administration  granted  by  this  Court."* 

10()0,  May  iVth,  the  Court  ordered  the  selectmen  of  every  town  in  which  was 
any  part  of  these  estates,  to  inventory  and  apprise  the  property,  and  make  re- 
turn to  the  Court  in  September. 

In  U)()l,  October  3,  an  attested  copy  of  Governor  Hopkins's  will  was  presented 
to  the  Court  and  "  accepted  as  authentic."  It  might  be  imagined  that  trustees 
would  now  be  left  to  settle  the  estate  and  dispose  of  the  legacy ;  instead  of 
which  the  Court  appointed  two  persons  to  take  the  management  of  the  estate  and 
be  accountable  to  the  Court  for  the  same.  Immediately  in  connection  with  the 
above  action  is  tho  following,  the  coolness  of  which  is  worthy  of  all  admiration, 

"  Upon  a  proposition  presented  from  Mr.  Goodwin,  in  reference  to  the  legacy 
DELONOiNo  TO  THIS  CoLONY  hij  the  last  will  of  Mr.  Hopkins,  and  whereas  there 

*  Mr.  Hooker  suggests  that  the  removal  and  speedy  renewal  of  the  sequestration  may  be  ac- 
counted for  by  the  history  of  the  controversy  in  the  Ilaitford  Church.  A  council  was  held  in 
June,  and  again  in  August,  1659,  at  Hartford,  which  "so  far  composed  the  difficulties  as  to  pre- 
vent a  aeparaUon  at  that  time:'  (Trumbull,  I,  307.)  Had  Elder  Goodwin  temporarily  given  up 
hts  dfHlgn  of  going  to  Hailley  and  so  taken  away  one  chief  cause  of  the  sequestration?  And  did 
hla  removal  soon  after  cause  its  renewal? 


(^  49 

r 

was  by  a  writing  a  tender  of  £850  to  this  Colony  out  of  that  estate  ;  this  Court 
doth  declare  that  they  do  not  reject  the  tender;  and  further,  this  Court  doth 
appoint  Major  Mason,  Mr.  Matthew  Allen,  Mr.  Wyllys  and  Captain  John  Talcott, 
as  a  Committee  to  treat  with  the  Trustees  of  Mr.  Hopkins's  estate  about  the  fore- 
said legacy  ;  and  what  the  major  part  of  those  that  meet  do  conclude,  shall  stand 
as  an  issue  of  that  business  ;  and  the  Secretary  is  to  write  a  letter  to  the  Trus- 
tees to  appoint  time  and  place  of  meeting." 

The  proposition  for  a  conference  was  declined,  and  the  estate  remained  under 
sequestration.  Meanwhile,  however,  Mr.  Winthrop  was  in  England  negotiating 
for  the  charter.  Mr.  Dally,  executor  of  Mr.  Hopkins's  will,  "  dealt  with  him 
about  it,  and  Mr.  Winthrop  promised  him  when  he  came  over  it  should  be  set  at 
liberty."  (Statement  by  Mr.  Davenport,  N.  H.  Town  Records,  April,  1664.)  Mr. 
Winthrop  did  come  over  in  1663,  and  October  8th,  of  that  year,  the  Court 
appointed  "  Mr.  Governor  [Winthrop,]  Mr.  Matthew  AUyn,  Mr.  Wyllys  and 
Capt.  Talcott,  or  any  three  of  them,  to  consider  what  is  meet  to  be  attended  in 
reference  to  Mr.  Hopkins  and  his  estate,  by  him  bequeathed  for  to  be  improved 
for  the  promoting  of  learning  and  to  make  report  of  their  thoughts  at  the  next 
Court."  What  "  their  thoughts  "  were,  may  be  gathered  from  the  subsequent 
vote  of  the  Court. 

"  166f  March  10th.  This  Court  upon  good  advice  do  see  cause  to  take  off  the 
sequestration  formerly  laid  upon  the  estate  of  Edward  Hopkins,  Esq.,  which  for 
several  good  reasons  was  laid  under  restraint,  partly  because  an  authentic  copy  of 
the  will  of  the  said  Edward  Hopkins,  Esq.,  did  not  appear  for  the  orderly  dis- 
charge thereof,  and  partly  because  an  attested  inventory  of  the  said  estate  hath 
not  as  yet  been  exhibited  into  this  Court,  yet  it  now  being  hopeless  because  of 
the  decease  of  Capt.  John  Cullick  to  obtain  such  inventory,  this  Court  doih  order 
as  before  mentioned." 

The;  sum  of  the  controversy,  on  the  other  side,  is  contained  in  two  letters 
of  Elder  Goodwin,  which  will  not  bear  abridgment. 

LETTERS  FROM  MR.  GOODWIN  RESPECTIXG  GOVERNOR  HOPKINs's  LEGACY. 

To  the  Honored  Court  that  is  to  be  held  at  Hartford,  in  March  next  following  the 

date  hereof. 
Much  Honored, 

We  received  w^ritings  from  you,  signed  by  the  Secretary,  wherein  you  desired 
the  Trustees  to  appoint  a  time  and  place  to  meet  with  a  Committee  which  you 
have  chosen  to  treat  with  them,  and  to  put  a  final  issue  to  the  business  respect- 
ing the  legacy.  I  am  desired  in  the  name  of  all  the  Trustees,  to  inform  the 
Court  that  we  cannot  entertain  that  motion,  both  for  that  we  are  not  able  to 
undertake  such  travel,  nor  do  we  see  any  use  at  all  of  it,  (if  we  were  able);  for 
we  have  ordered  three  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  set  out  of  Mr.  Hopkins  estate 
committed  to  our  trust,  to  be  allowed  to  Hartford,  upon  these  conditions  and 
terms  following: 

(1.)  That  it  be  by  them  improved,  according  to  the  mind  of  the  donor,  ex- 
pressed in  his  will.  (2,)  That  the  Court  do  also  engage  to  remove  all  obstruc- 
tions out  of  our  way,  that  we  may  not  be  disturbed,  nor  any  way  hindered,  from, 
by,  or  under  them,  in  the  management  of  the  rest  of  that  estate,  according  to 

4 


50 

our  trust :  that  so  love  and  peace  may  be  settled  and  established  between  us. 
(3.)  That  you  will  deliver  us  back  the  attested  copy  of  the  WiU  sent  us  from 
England,  or  else  a  true  copy  of  it,  under  the  seal  of  the  Colony. 

Now  if  it  please  the  Honored  Court  (or  their  Committee)  to  accept  of  this 
tendry  of  £350,  as  is  aforesaid,  and  shall  deliver  unto  us,  or  to  our  attornies, 
an  instrument  drawn  up  in  writing,  and  sealed  with  the  seal  of  the  Colony, 
wherein  all  the  conditions  of  the  tendry  abovesaid  shall  be  fully  and  plainly 
expressed  and  confirmed  by  the  Court  as  abovesaid,  before  the  last  of  March 
next  ensuing  the  date  hereof,  that  then  this  grant  of  £350  to  Hartford,  as 
abovesaid,  shall  be  settled  upon  them,  to  be  improved  by  them,  according  as  is 
expressed  in  the  will  of  the  donor.  But  if  the  Court  do  not  fully  and  plainly 
declare  their  acceptance,  according  as  is  above  expressed,  then  we  hereby  de- 
clare our  grant  to  them  here  inserted  to  be  a  nullity  and  void;  and  thus  I 
humbly  take  leave  of  you, 

Subscribing  myself,  your  Worships' 

Hadlev  February  in  all  due  observance, 

24th    1661.  _  William  Goodwix, 

in  the  name  of  the  rest  of  the  Trustees. 


To  the  Honored  Court  at  Hartford. 
Much  Honored, 

Yours  of  November  16,  1663,  I  received,  and  not  to  trouble  you  with  my 
answer  unto  your  several  motives  to  induce  us  to  be  of  your  mind,  my  final 
return  to  all  is  this,  That  as  I  have  no  cause,  so  I  do  in  no  sort  consent  to  that 
which  you  were  pleased  to  move  me  unto,  but  do  desire  that  yourselves  would 
return  the  estate  unto  us,  who  only  have  right  to  dispose  thereof,  with  due  satis- 
faction for  all  damage  that  shall  appear  to  be  done  unto  it,  since  it  hath  been 
taken  out  of  our  hands  ;  which  being  timely  performed,  I  doubt  not  but  the 
three  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  tendered  unto  you  in  February,  1661,  may  yet  be 
settled  upon  Hartford,  on  such  like  conditions  as  be  therein  expressed,  tending 
to  the  securing  of  the  estate  from  any  further  obstructions  by  your  means,  and 
ordering  of  the  improvement  of  it  according  to  the  donor's  end,  expressed  in 
his  will,  as  our  duty  bindcth  us  to  do.  Now  hereunto  I  do  humbly  desire  the 
Honored  Court  speedily  and  plainly  to  declare  themselves  to  me  (or  to  our  at- 
tornies) whether  they  do  now  accept  of  this  tendry  or  not,  without  any  further 
agitations  about  the  disposal  of  it,  which  hath  already  been  a  great  wrong  to  the 
estate  and  donor  thereof,  as  also  to  us,  the  Trustees,  and  whole  country  besides ; 
the  which,  if  you  shall  decline  to  do  betwixt  this  and  the  end  of  March  next 
ensuing  the  date  hereof,  this  tendry  also  is  to  be  judged  a  nullity,  and  we  shall 
forthwith  endeavor  the  freeing  of  the  estate  elsewhere,  as  the  great  betrustment 
committed  to  us,  in  all  respects  considered,  in  duty  bindeth  us  to  do  thus. 
H(»ping  and  heartily  wishing  that  you  would  accept  of  my  motion,  though  I 
cannot  accept  of  yours,  I  rest. 

Yours  to  love  and  serve  you  as  I  may, 
Hadley,  Feb.  1st,  '68.  William  Goodwin. 


51 

The  only  further  mention  of  this  subject  in  the  book  of  Colony  Records,  is  an 
order  of  Council  under  date  of  January  13th,  1664-5  :  "  This  council  doth  hereby 
declare  that  the  estate  of  our  honored  friend  Edward  Hopkins,  Esq.,  shall  not 
be  molested  by  sequestering  in  the  behalf  of  the  country."  This  vote  was 
probably  passed  in  order  to  fulfill  the  stipulation  of  the  Trustees  in  the  follow- 
ing document,  that  there  should  be  no  further  hindrance  from  performing  their 
trust. 


YI. 

FINAL  SETTLEMENT  OF  THE  ESTATE. 

The  following  is  a  copy,  from  the  Records  of  the  Hopkins  Grammar  School  of 
N'ew  Haven,  of 

THE  AGREEMENT  BETWEEN  MR.  DAVENPORT  AND  MR.  GOODWIN  ABOUT  DISPOSING 
MR.  HOPKINS  HIS  LEGACY. 

Whereas  the  worshipful  Edward  Hopkins,  Esq.,  a  faithful  servant  of  the  Lord, 
and  our  worthily  honored  friend,  hath  in  his  last  will  and  testament,  (proved 
according  to  law  in  England,  and  demonstration  thereof  made  to  the  General 
Court  at  Hartford  in  New  England),  given  and  bequeathed  all  his  estate  in  New 
England  (his  debts  there  and  legacies  being  first  paid  out  of  the  same)  unto  The- 
ophilus  Eaton,  Esq.,  John  Davenport,  pastor  to  the  Church  of  Christ  at  New 
Haven,  Capt.  John  Cullick  and  William  Goodwin,  sometime  of  Hartford,  since  of 
Boston  and  Hadley  in  the  colony  of  the  Massachusetts,  confiding  in  their  faith- 
fulness for  the  improvement  of  the  same  for  the  education  of  youth  in  good 
literature  to  fit  them  for  the  service  of  Christ  in  these  foreign  parts:  We 
therefore,  the  said  John  Davenport  and  William  Goodwin,  the  only  survivors  of 
the  said  trustees,  that  we  may  answer  the  said  trust  reposed  in  us,  do  order 
and  dispose  of  the  said  estate  as  followeth,  viz  : 

To  the  town  of  Hartford  we  do  give  the  sum  of  four  hundred  pounds,  of 
•which  Hills  farm  shall  be  a  part  at  the  same  price  at  which  it  was  sold  by  us 
and  the  pay  ready  to  be  delivered  if  there  had  been  no  interruption,  tl  e  rest  of 
the  £400  in  such  debts  and  goods  as  we  or  our  agents  shall  see  meet,  provided 
that  this  part  be  improved  according  to  the  ends  of  the  donor,  viz,  for  the 
erecting  and  maintaining  of  a  school  at  Hartford :  Provided  also  that  the  Gene- 
ral Court  at  Hartford  do  grant  and  give  unto  us  a  writing  legally  confirmed, 
engaging  that  neither  themselves  will,  nor  any  by,  from  or  under  them  shall 
disturb  or  hinder  us  in  our  dispose  or  executing  our  dispose  of  the  rest  of  the 
estate  :  which  done,  this  gift  is  in  all  respects  valid.  We  do  also  desire  and 
request  that  the  school  house  may  be  set  upon  the  house  lot  which  was  lately 
in  the  occupation  of  Jeremy  Adams,  where  our  worthy  friend  di^  much  desire 
and  endeavor  that  a  school  house  might  be  set.  Further  our  desire  is  that  the 
management  of  the  said  estate  at  Hartford  may  be  in  the  hands  of  Deacon  Ed- 
ward Stebbing  and  Lieutenant  Thomas  Bull,  and  their  assigns. 


52 

We  do  further  order  and  appoint  the  rest  of  the  estate  of  the  said  Edward 
Hopkins,  Esq.,  (the  debts  being  paid),  to  be  all  of  it  equally  divided  between 
the  towns  of  Newhaven  and  lladley,  to  be  in  both  those  towns  managed  and 
improved  for  the  erecting  and  maintaining  of  a  school  in  each  of  the  said 
towns.  And  the  management  thereof  to  be  in  the  hands  of  our  assigns,  which 
are  the  town  court  of  Newhaven,  consisting  of  the  magistrates  and  deputies, 
together  with  the  officers  of  the  church  there,  in  the  behalf  of  the  said  Mr.  John 
Davenport;  and  John  Russell,  Junr.,  Lieut.  Samuel  Smith,  Andrew  Bacon  and 
Peter  Tilton  of  lladley,  in  the  behalf  of  Mr.  William  Goodwin.  Only  provided, 
that  one  hundred  pounds  out  of  that  half  of  the  estate  which  Hadley  hath,  shall 
be  given  and  paid  to  Harvard  College  so  soon  as  we,  the  said  John  Davenport 
and  William  Goodwin  see  meet,  and  to  be  ordered  as  we  or  our  assigns  shall 
udge  most  conducing  to  the  end  of  the  donor. 

Hereunto,  as  to  our  last  order,  dispose  and  determination  touching  the  said 
estate,  we  have  set  our  hands  and  seals  in  several  instruments  before  witnesses, 
the  far  distance  of  our  habitations  and  our  unfitness  for  such  a  journey  denying 
us  opportunity  of  a  joint  acting  otherwise  than  by  writing.  Therefore  with  mu- 
tual consent  we  thus  declare  our  agreement.  I  the  said  Wm.  Goodwin  do  sign 
and  seal  this  instrument  as  my  true  agreement  for  Mr.  John  Davenport  of  Kew- 

'"^^*-^"-  Wm.  Goodwin,  [Seal.] 

The  13th  day  of  the  4th  month,  1664, 
signed  and  sealed  in  presence  of  us, 
Henry  Claek, 
Wm.  Westwood. 


JIR.  DAVEMPORT  S  TENDER  OF  GOVERNOR  HOPKINS  S  DONATION  TO  THE  TOWN  OF 
NEW  HAVEN. 

[F\om  the  New  Haven  Town  Records,  April  28,  1G64.] 

[Then  follow  three  pages  in  another  hand  writing,  begipning — "  after  the 
names  were  called,"] 

"  EDUCATION. 

"  1(504,  April  28.  After  the  names  were  called  the  Deputy  Governor  informed 
the  town  that  Mr.  Davenport  had  something  to  acquaint  them  withall,  therefore 
he  desired  that  they  would  seriously  attend  to  it.  Then  Mr.  Davenport  informed 
the  Town  that  there  was  a  trust  committed  to  him  by  the  last  will  of  Mr. 
Hopkins — and  they  might  remember  how  that,  in  Mr.  Eaton's  time,  there  was 
thought  of  erecting  a  college  here  or  collegiate  school — and  for  that  end  the  oys- 
tcr-shell-field  was  designed  for  such  a  use,  and  since  a  to  wn  lot  called  Mrs.  Eldred's 
lot — and  Mr.  Goodyear  offered  his  house  to  that  end  but  not  accepted — and  in 
tliis  time  he  said  that  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Hopkins  about  such  an  intendment — who 
an.mvered  that  he  would  do  something  to  encourage  it;  and  so  in  his  last  will  he 
did  bequeath  part  of  his  estate  that  was  in  New  England  to  that  end — and  com- 
mittccl  that  part  to  Mr.  Eaton  himself,  Capt.  Cullick  and  Mr.  Goodwin,  and  left  it 
wholly  to  thoir  dispose  as  they  saw  good,  as  if  it  were  their  own  estate — but  they 
well  know  his  meaning  therein.     Now  it  pleased  God  to  take  away  Mr.  Eaton  and 


53 

after  him,  Capt.  Cullick:  now  there  was  letters  passed  between  them  about  the 
dispose  of  this  estate  and  attorneys  appointed  about  gathering  up  the  estate  where  it 
was  in  the  country.  But  the  Magistrates  of  Connecticut  laid  a  restraint  upon  the 
estate,  till  they  had  a  copy  of  Mr.  Hopkins  will  and  an  inventory  taken  of  the 
estate,  and  after  this  was  done,  then  they  would  have  a  copy  of  the  will  attested 
from  the  Court  of  the  probate  of  wills  in  England ;  and  when  this  was  done  they 
still  kept  on  the  restraint,  so  that  when  Mr.  Winthrop  was  in  England,  Mr.  Dally 
(who  was  put  in  trast  with  Mr.  Hopkins  his  estate  in  England)  dealt  with  him 
about  it,  and  Mr.  Winthrop  promised  him,  that  when  he  came  over  it  should  be 
set  at  liberty,  but  notwithstanding  it  was  not  till  this  spring,  for  that  now  it  is  free. 
Mr.  Davenport  further  said  that  Mr.  Goodwin  and  himself  had  consulted  by  letter 
about  the  dispose  of  it— and  he  told  him  he  would  dispose  of  it  to  the  Common- 
wealth— and  so  he  did  to  the  General  Court — but  the  failing  of  the  colony  school 
put  an  end  to  that,  so  that  now  he  would  dispose  of  it  to  New  Haven  town — but 
yet  to  be  improved  to  that  end  for  which  it  was  given  by  Mr.  Hopkins,  viz — to  fit 
youth  (by  learning)  for  the  service  of  God  in  church  and  commonwealth — there- 
fore he  would  have  the  town  consider  how  this  should  be  attained.  He  further 
said  that  the  estate  was  something  damnified — yet  it  is  thought  when  all  is  paid 
there  wall  be  a  thousand  pound  in  the  whole  of  which  Hartford  have  gained  four 
hundred  for  a  school — now  the  rest  was  in  their  trust  and  he  had  writ  to  Mr. 
Goodwin  about  it  and  that  he  thought  it  was  meet  New  Haven  should  have 
more  than  Hadley— and  so  Mr.  Goodwin  agreed  to  pay  the  one  hundred  pound 
out  of  his  part  to  the  college  in  the  Bay  which  they  had  purposed  before  to  give 
to  it :  Mr.  Davenport  further  signified  to  the  town,  that  there  was  five  hundred 
pounds  more  after  the  death  of  Mistress  Hopkins,  which  Mr.  Dally  was  engaged  to 
see  paid.  These  things  he  said  lie  acquainted  the  town  withall,  that  if  he  should 
die  they  might  know  the  state  of  things.  He  further  said,  that  we  are  at  present  in 
a  low  way  for  learning,  therefore  he  would  have  the  town  not  to  be  wanting  to 
themselves  in  this  business,  but  his  desire  and  advice  was  that  the  town  would 
allow  that  maintenance  as  they  had  formerly  done  for  a  Grammar  school — and  to 
send  to  the  President  of  the  College  for  an  able  man  for  that  work  to  teach  the 
Languages — he  also  desired  that  the  town  would  appoint  a  committee  that  might 
take  care  about  this  estate,  both  to  appoint  some  for  the  receiving  of  it  and  improv- 
ing of  it  and  sending  for  a  schoolmaster,  and  also,  there  being  many  books  belong- 
ing to  the  town,  that  they  might  consider  about  building  a  library  upon  that  lot  be- 
fore mentioned — and  what  else  may  be  thought  necessary  for  this  work.  Mr. 
Jones  then  spake  and  said  that  he  thought,  that  that  which  Mr.  Davenport  had  pro- 
pounded was  very  acceptable  to  the  town,  and  might  be  much  for  the  advantage 
both  of  colony  and  town  in  the  well  being  of  them.  Mr.  Davenport  further  said 
that  he  had  writ  to  those  concerned  about  the  estate,  that  they  would  sett  off  that 
which  was  to  be  sold — and  he  thought  that  they  would  do  us  that  favor  as  to  dis- 
pose of  that  part  of  the  estate  which  is  most  free  to  us. 

"  The  Town  declared  their  acceptance  with  thankfulness  of  what  Mr.  Davenport 
propounded — and  then  the  town,  after  debate  upon  the  matters  propounded,  came 
to  vote  and  first  about  £30  per  annum  for  a  Grammar  school,  and  was  concluded, 
nd  2  for  a  committee  for  this  business  and  by  vote  was  concluded,  the  Magis- 
trates, Elders,  Deacons  and  Deputies  of  the  Court,  as  they  shall  arise,  to  be  a 
committee  for  this  trust." 


54: 

In  conformity  with  the  proposals  thus  made  by  Mr.  Davenport,  a  formal 
•'Grant"  was  executed  by  him  in  16GS,  after  his  removal  to  Boston,  It  is  en- 
tered in  full  upon  the  Records  of  the  Town,  and  also  on  those  of  the  Trustees  of 
the  School.  It  occupies  over  four  pages  of  foolscap  in  the  close  handwriting  of 
Governor  Jones. 

After  rehearsing  the  Will,  and  the  Agreement  of  the  surviving  Trustees,  he 
stales  the  object  of  the  instrument :  "  that  the  Gramraer  Schoole  or  Colledge,  att 
Xewhaven  already  ffounded  and  begun  may  be  provided  for  maintained  and  con- 
tinued for  the  encouragement  and  bringing  up  of  hopefull  youths  in  the  Lan- 
guages, and  other  good  Literature,  for  the  publique  use  and  service  of  the 
Country."  He  names  his  trustees  and  impowers  them  to  manage  and  improve 
the  estate,  "to  order,  regulate  and  direct  the  said  Collerjiate  School," — "to  make 
choice  of  such  school  master  (and  Usher  if  needj  be)  as  they  shall  approve  of 
to  be  sufficiently  qualified  to  undertake  such  a  charge,  and  able  to  instruct  and 
teach  the  three  learned  Languages,  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew,  so  far  as  shall 
be  necessary  to  prepare  and  fit  youth  for  the  college."  He  continues:  "If  the 
said  Committee  or  their  successors  shall  find  the  said  ends  by  this  grant  not 
attained  at  New  Haven,  and  that  the  said  Grammar  or  Collegiate  School  hereby 
endowed  and  provided  for  should  be  dissolved  and  wholly  cease,  I  obtest  them 
by  the  will  of  the  dead,  Avhich  no  man  may  alter,  and  by  the  trust  committed  to 
me  and  them,  whereof  we  must  give  our  account  to  that  great  Judge  of  all,  that 
this  gift  of  the  said  Edward  Hopkins,  Esq.,  deceased,  be  by  them  the  said  Com- 
mittee wholly  translated  and  disposed  of  elsewhere  where  the  said  ends  may 
be  attained."  He  reserves  for  himself  the  right  of  a  negative  on  the  acts  of  the 
Trustees,  during  his  lifetime.  He  stipulates  that  the  Oyster-shell-field  and  Mrs. 
Eldred's  lot  shall  be  settled  upon  the  School  forever.  Finally  he  declares  the 
former  grant  of  1660  to  be  null  and  void,  in  consequence  of  the  laying  down  of 
the  Colony  School. 


YII. 

THE  RECTORS  OF  THE  SCHOOL. 

1064.  No  income  of  the  fund  designated  in  1660  appears  to  have  been  used  for 
the  Grammar-School  until  1664.  Geouge  Pardee  (of  whom,  see  more  on 
pp.  30,  31)  was  the  master,  under  the  arrangement  made  in  1664,  between 
Mr.  Davenport  and  the  town. 

ir.65.  Mr.  Chauncv  ?  Mr.  Davenport  had  recommended  the  town  to  send  to  the 
Trcsidcnt  of  the  College  for  "an  able  man,"  to  which  the  President 
seems  to  iiave  responded  by  sending  one  of  his  own  sons;  but  which,  of 
three  who  graduated  in  iGf.l,  is  not  known— probably  Israel,  minister  of 
Stratford.  That  he  actually  entered  on  the  School,  and  continued  in  it 
until  Mr.  Street,  is  known  only  by  inference. 


55 

1667.  Samuel  Stkeet,  Harvard  College,  1664.  He  was  son  of  Rev.  Nicholas 
Street,  teacher  of  the  Church  in  Kew  Haven.  Left  the  School  about 
le'/S,  and  was  afterward  minister  of  Wallingford. 

16'74.  George  Pardee  was  re-engaged  (the  town  being  left  destitute)  '  to  teach 
youth  to  read  English,  and  the  Accidence,  and  any  Grammar  rules  as  far 
as  he  could,  and  to  write."  In  1677,  on  occasion  of  an  order  from  the 
General  Court  concerning  the  lack  of  a  grammar-school  at  New  Haven, 
Mr.  Jones  stated  that  after  the  gift  of  the  Hopkins  legacy  to  the  town 
(1664)  "a  Latin  School  was  set  up  and  continued  until  Mr.  Street  re- 
moved" but  that  "  for  about  three  years  there  had  been  only  an  English 
school."  After  a  long  debate  about  the  condition  of  the  estate,  the  Re- 
cord concludes: 

*'The  town  now  being  informed  in  the  state  of  things  about  the  school, 
they  fell  to  a  loving  debate  to  promove  the  business  that  a  school  accord- 
ing to  the  Law  might  be  set  up,  and  therefore  it  was  desired  that  parents 
or  such  as  have  children,  would  be  careful  to  send  their  children  to  the 
school,  and  to  continue  them  at  it,  that  they  may  attain  to  some  pro- 
ficiency whereby  they  may  come  to  be  fit  for  service  to  God  in  church  or 
commonwealth,  and  [were]  pressed  with  the  custom  of  our  predecessors 
and  the  common  jfractise  of  the  English  nation  to  bring  up  their  children 
in  Learning.'' 

1683.  TnEOPHiLus  Muxson.  Prior  to  the  year  1683,  the  doings  of  the  School 
Trustees,  when  recorded  at  all,  were  entered  on  the  Town  Records.  In 
that  year  a  Record  Book  was  commenced  for  the  School,  and  the  following 
papers  engrossed  in  it,  in  the  clerkly  hand  of  Deputy-Governor  Jones : — 
1.  Governor  Hopkins's  Will ;  2.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Davenport's  Graunt,  1668;  3. 
Power  of  Attorney  from  Davenport,  Cullick,  and  Goodwin,  surviving 
Trustees,  to  Thomas  Bull,  Nathaniel  Ward,  and  Edward  Stebbing,  to 
collect  debts,  &c.,  for  the  estate,  1658;  4.  The  Agreement  between  Da- 
venport and  Goodwin,  1664;  5,  6.  Deeds  of  Real  Estate;  7.  Statement  of 
the  Receipt  of  the  Estate,  amounting  to  £412. 

The  first  record  of  the  doings  of  the  Committee  begins : — 

"  At  a  meeting  of  the  above-named  Committee,  the  4th  of  January, 
1683,  (i.  e.  1684): 

"  Agreed  that  Ensign  Munson  go  on  with  the  Grammar  School  at  New 
Haven  to  make  up  his  year  current,  and  his  allowance  to  be  £40  pr.  ann. 
as  formerly.  Also  that  trial  be  made  of  the  suflSciency  of  the  said  Ensign 
Munson,  and  if  he  be  found  sufficient  to  instruct  or  fit  hopeful  youth  for 
the  College,  according  to  the  trust  committed  to  us,"  that  he  have  £50 
for  the  ensuing  year." 

The  "  trial  of  his  sufficiency,"  seems  to  have  been  unsatisfactory ;  for, 
three  months  later  he  "  laid  down  his  charge,"  and  his  successor  was 
appointed. 

The  Records  continue  to  be  in  the  handwriting  of  Governor  Jones  until 


66 

the  close  of  the  year  1694,  after  which,  the  records  passed  into    less 
careful  hands. 

16S4.  John  IIerrimax,  son  of  John  ITorriman  who  "  kept  the  ordinary"  at  New 
Haven,  at  that  time  an  office  of  trust  and  dignity  under  the  town.  He 
graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1667,  and  ministered  to  the  church  in 
New  Haven  more  or  lei=s  from  1676  to  1682.  He  was  afterward  first 
minister  of  Elizabethtown,  N.  J. 

In  1687,  during  Mr.  Herriman's  administration,  a  debt  of  £8,  8s.,  owing 
to  the  Hopkins  estate  from  Mrs.  Abigail  Davenport,  was  released  to  her 
for  the  maintenance  of  her  son,  John  Davenport,  at  the  College.  This 
John,  grandson  of  the  New  Haven  pastor,  graduated  at  Harvard,  that 
year,  and  became  the  next  teacher  of  the  Grammar-Sehool.  At  the  same 
time,  "  forty  pounds  of  the  list  of  debts  were  appropriated  for  the  mainte- 
nance, education  and  encouragement  in  learning,  of  John  Jones,  Samuel 
Mansfield,  Stephen  Meeks  (Mix)  and  Thomas  Buckingham  ...  of  which 
sura  ye  aforesaid  John  Jones  is  to  have  a  double  part,  he  being  a  kinsman 
and  relation  by  affinity  to  the  said  donor."  John  Jones  was  son  to 
Governor  William  Jones,  who  married  the  daughter  of  Governor  Eaton, 
half-sister  to  Mrs.  Hopkins.  Of  these  five  beneficiaries,  three,  Davenport, 
Mansfield,  and  Mix,  graduated  at  Harvard  College.  The  two  former  be- 
came teachers  in  the  Hopkins  School.  Davenport  at  Stamford,  Mix  at 
Wethersfield,  and  Buckingham  at  Saybrook,  were  all  eminent  pastors. 
The  last  named  was  one  of  the  founders  of  Yale  College,  and  Moderator 
of  the  Saybrook  Council. 

The  curious  rules  which  were  adopted  by  the  Trustees,  and  published  in 
the  School,  under  Mr.  Herriman,  have  been  printed  in  full  in  the  an- 
nual Catalogue  of  the  School  for  1857.  They  may  have  come,  substan- 
tially, from  the  hand  of  Mr.  Davenport,  who  alludes  to  rules  which  he  had 
drawn.     The  substance  of  them  is  briefly  as  follows  : 

1.  Tlic  School  free  to  all  boys  from  New  Haven  County;  all  others  to 
pay  ten  shillings  entrance  fee. 

2.  Qualifications  for  admission  ; — that  boys  should  have  learned  to  "spell 
their  letters  well,"  and  begin  to  read,  and  "  all  girls  be  excluded  as  improper 
and  inconsistent  witli  such  a  granunar-school  as  the  law  enjoins," 

:<.  'School  hours.  From  6  to  11  A.  M.,  from  1  to  4  P.  M.,  in  winter;  in 
Summer  till  5  P.  M. 

4.  A  Monitor  to  be  appointed  to  mark  absences,  and  the  faulty  and 
truantfl  to  be  corrected  or  reproved. 

5.  Prayer  to  be  offered  every  morning. 

6.  Scholars  to  be  seated  in  order  of  scholarship,  and  not  to  leave  their 
seats. 

7.  Good  behavior  required.     The  incorrigible  to  be  expelled. 

8.  Misbehavior  at  church  to  be  corrected. 

0,  No  Latin  Boys  allowed  to  absent  themselves. 
10    Boya  to  be  examined  Monday  morning  on  the  sermons,  and  Saturday 
afternoon,  to  bo  catechised. 


67 

1687.  Joiry  Davenport,  grandson  of  the  first  pastor  of  New  Haven,  graduated 
at  Harvard  in  1G87.  Undertook  the  School  in  August  of  the  same  year, 
and  continued  it  for  some  four  years  or  more.  lie  afterwards  became 
minister  of  Stamford. 

1694.  Samuel  Mansfield  was  Schoole  Master  in  this  year,  and  continued  in  the 
position  until  1699.  He  graduated  at  Harvard,  in  1690,  having  been, 
like  his  predecessor,  assisted  in  his  education  from  the  Hopkins  fund. 
After  leaving  the  School,  he  went  into  the  West  India  trade.  Died, 
1701. 

1699.  Joseph  Moss.  "Sir  Moss  .  Be  gun  .  to  keep  scole  .  the  27:  of  .  No- 
uembr  1699  :  then  .  sayed  Moss  .  put  .  in  by  the  Comittee.^'  {School 
Records.)  Three  years  before  this  his  father  was  "allowed  the  use  of 
Colledge  meadow  rent-free,  for  his  encouragement  in  giving  his  Son 
Colledge  Learning."  He  graduated  at  Harvard,  1699.  After  he  left  the 
School,  November,  1706,  he  became  minister  of  Derby.  "No  clergyman 
in  his  time  had  a  higher  reputation  in  Connecticut,  than  Mr.  Moss."  Prof. 
Kingsley. 

1706.  John  James.  Received  an  honorary  degree  at  H.  C,  1710.  He  kept  the 
School  only  six  weeks. 

1707.  Samuel  Cooke,  Y.  C.  1705.  Continued  to  teach  the  School  for  eight 
years,  and  went  from  it  to  become  minister  of  Stratfield,  (Bridgeport.) 
He  was,  in  1732,  Fellow  of  the  College.     Died  in  1747. 

1716.  Daniel  Browne,  Y.  C.  1714.  Tutor  in  Y.  C.  Went  to  England  to  re- 
ceive orders  as  an  Episcopal  minister,  where  he  died  of  small-pox,  1723. 

1718.  James  PiERPONT,  Y.  C.  1718.  Son  of  the  pastor  of  New  Haven.  Tutor 
in  Yale  College,  1722-4.     Died,  1776. 

1721.  Richard  Treat,  Y.  C.  1719.  "Mr.  Treet  Took  the  Care  of  the  Gramer 
School  in  Newliauen  31th  day  May  anno  Domni  1721."  Was  minister  of 
Abington,  Mass.,  and  not  D.  D.  This  title  belonged  to  another  of  the 
same  name  who  graduated  six  years  later. 

1721.  (Sept.  18th.)  Samuel  Mix,  Y.  C.  1720.  Son  of  Samuel  Mix,  of  New 
Haven. 

1729.  Daniel  MuNSON.  "  Agreed  with  Ensigne  theophelus  Munson  for  his  son 
Daniell  Munson  to  keep  the  gramer  scholl  for  on  year  to  begin  22d  No- 
uember  and  to  keep  about  7  hours  in  the  day  in  the  winter  season  and 
about  8  hours  in  the  sumer  season  in  each  day  and  not  to  exceed  twelve 
play  dayes  in  the  year  and  for  his  Reward  he  is  to  have  the  money  raysed 
on  the  scoollers  heads  and  the  Rents  of  the  mony  and  of  the  land  and 
Meadow  of  this  present  year."     Y.  C.  1726. 


58 

1730.  :M«'iiEs  Mansfield,  Y.  C.  1730.  Of  a  New  Haven  family  in  which  pre- 
vailed a  talent  for  school  keeping.      Vide  infra. 

1734.  William  Wolcott,  Y.  C.  173-t.     Tutor,  1735.     Died,  1799. 

1735.  Isaac  Dickermax,  Y.  C.  1736.  Taught  the  School  for  six  weeks,  October 
and  November  of  1735. 

[For  the  next  four  years  there  is  no  record  of  the  names  of  school- 
masters, except,  written  on  an  odd  leaf,  an  account  of  a  payment  for 
ten  months'  services  to]  : — 

1738.   Mills,  Gideon,  Y.  C.  1737,  or  Ebenezer,  Y.  C.  1738. 

1740.  MosKs  Mansfield.     The  same  who  kept  the  School  in  1730. 

1741.  John  Whiting,  Y.  C.  1740.  Tutor,  1743-7.  Was  afterward  Judge  of 
Probate  in  New  Haven,  and  Deacon  of  the  First  Church.     Died,  1786. 

1742.  Richard  Mansfield,  Y.  C.  1741.  Son  of  Jonathan  Mansfield,  the  Secre- 
tary and  Treasurer  of  the  Trustees.  Was  ordained  in  England,  1749,  as 
an  Episcopal  minister,  and  took  charge  of  congregations  in  West  Haven, 
Derby,  and  W^aterbury. 

1747.  Moses  Tdttle,  Y.  C.  1745.  Marked  as  a  minister,  in  the  Triennial  Cata- 
logue of  Yale  College. 

1747.  Benjamin  Talmagk,  Y.  C.  1747.  Minister  of  Brookhaven,  L.  I.,  where  he 
died,  1786.  He  was  father  of  Col.  Benjamin  Tallmadge,  of  the  army  of 
the  Revolution. 

1747.  Eliphalet  Ball,  Y.  C.  1748.  Born  at  New  Haven.  Became  minister  of 
Woodbridge,  and  afterward  of  Ballston,  N.  Y.,  which  was  named  for 
him.    Died,  1797.     He  taught  the  School  only  a  single  week. 

1747.  Timothy  Pitkin,  Y.  C.  1747.  Tutor.  Afterward  minister  of  Farming- 
ton,  and  Fellow  of  the  College.     Died,  1811. 

1749.  John  IIotciikiss,  Y.  C.  1748;  received  degrees,  also,  from  Harvard,  New 
Jersey,  and  Dartmouth  Colleges.  He  was  a  New  Haven  merchant,  and 
was  killed  in  the  British  invasion  of  New  Haven,  July,  1779. 

1751.  Thomas  Williams,  Y.  C.  1748.  Was  a  preacher  of  the  gospel,  but  never 
ordained.     Died,  1778. 

1753.  Jonathan  Wells,  Y.  C.  1751.     Tutor,  1754.     Died,  1792. 

1754.  John  Noyes,  Y.  C.  1753.  Son  of  the  pastor  of  the  First  Church,  New 
Haven.     Died,  1767. 


69 

1151.  Timothy  Jones,  Y.  C.  1757.  Was  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  New  Haven, 
where  he  died,  1800. 

1759.  Noah  "Williston,  Y.  C.  1757.  Minister  of  West  Haven,  where  he  died  in 
1811. 

1760.  Ebenezer  Grosvenor,  Y.  C.  1759.  Minister  at  Scituate,  Mass.  Died, 
1788. 

1761.  Matthew  Merriam,  Y.  C.  1759.      Minister  at  Berwick,  Me.      Died,  1797. 

1761.  Avery  Hall,  Y.  C.  1759.  Son  of  Rev.  Theophilus  Hall,  of  Meriden. 
Minister  at  Rochester,  N.  H.     Died,  1820. 

1762.  Hadlock  Marcy,  Y.  C.  1761. 

1764.  PuNDERSON  Austin,  Y.  C.  1762.     Tutor,  1765.     Died,  1773. 

1765.  William  Jonks,  Y.  C.  1762.     Merchant  in  New  Haven.     Died,  1783. 

1768.  Buckingham  St.  John,  (from  Norwalk,)  Y.  C.  1768.  Tutor,  1770.  Died 
by  drowning,  while  Tutor,  1771.  An  elegy  was  written  on  the  occasion 
of  his  death,  by  Judge  Trumbull,  author  of  "M'Fingal." 

[Prof.  Kingsley  inserts  here,  in  the  list  of  Teachers  of  the  School,  pre- 
pared by  him  and  published  in  the  Catalogue  of  the  School  for  1850-51, 
the  name  of  President  Timothy  Dwight.  The  biography  of  Dr.  Dwight, 
by  his  son,  prefixed  to  his  Theology,  also  represents,  that  immediately 
after  his  graduation  (in  1769)  he  taught  a  grammar-school  in  New  Haven. 
No  other  grammar-school  than  the  Hopkins  School  is  known  to  have  ex- 
isted at  the  time,  in  New  Haven,  and  it  is  highly  improbable  that  more 
than  one  could  have  been  sustained  here.  As  it  would  seem  very  im- 
probable that  the  biographer  of  Dr.  Dwight,  being  his  own  son,  and  hav- 
ing access  to  his  papers,  should  be  mistaken  as  to  how  Dr.  Dwight  was 
engaged  for  so  long  a  period  of  his  active  life,  we  might  have  been  held 
justified,  on  this  authority,  in  retaining  this  famous  name  upon  our  list. 

On  the  other  hand,  however,  not  only  do  the  Records  of  the  School 
give  no  proof  that  Dr.  Dwight  ever  taught  it,  but  they  do  give  distinct 
proof  of  the  contrary.  There  is  no  break  in  the  Record,  and  no  inter- 
ruption in  the  succession  of  Teachers,  in  which  to  find  a  place  for  him.] 

1770.  Samuel  Darling,  Y.  C.  1769.  Became  a  physician  at  New  Haven,  and 
Deacon  of  the  First  Church.     Died  at  New  Haven,  aged  91,  in  184:2. 

1771.  Achilles  Mansfield,  Y.  C.  1770.  In  1779  became  minister  of  the 
Church  in  Killingworth,  in  which  office  he  died,  in  1814. 

1774.    William  Lockwood,  Y.  C.  1774.     Tutor,  1779.     Minister  at  Glastenbury. 

Died,  1828. 


\ 


1777.  CiiAUNCEY  Goodrich,  Y.  C.  177o.  Tutor,  1779-81.  Afterwards  U.  S. 
Senator,  and  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Connecticut.     Died,  1815. 

1778.  Samukl  Bird,  Y.  C.  1770.     Became  a  planter  in  Georgia.     Died,  1822. 

1780.  Zeiut.on  Ely,  Y.  C.  1779.  Tutor,  1781.  From  1782  till  his  death,  in 
1324,  minister  of  Lebanon,  Conn. 

1782.    TuoMAS  Lord,  Y.  C.  1780. 

1782.    Richard  Woodhcll,  Y.  C.  1752.     Tutor,  1756-61;  also,  1763-5. 

1785.  Walter  King,  Y.  C.  1782.  1787,  minister  at  Norwich,  Conn.  1813,  at 
Williamstown,  Mass.     Died,  1815. 

1785.  David  Daggett,  Y.  C.  1783,  LL.  D.,  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court  of 
Connecticut,  United  States  Senator,  Professor  of  Law  in  Yale  College. 
Died,  1851. 

1786.  Jarkd  Mansfield,  Y.  C.  1777.  He  was  born  in  1759,  of  the  New  Haven 
family  of  Mansfield?,  largely  represented  in  this  list.  After  leaving  the 
Hopkins  Grammar-School,  in  1795,  he  became  instructor  in  that  sustained 
by  the  Friends,  in  Philadelphia.  His  "Assays,  Mathematical  and  Phys- 
ical" published  about  1800,  was  the  first  volume  of  original  mathematical 
research  issued  in  this  country.  After  this  he  was  successively  Surveyor 
General  of  the  United  States  for  the  Northwestern  Territories,  and  Pro- 
fessor in  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point.  Died  at  New  Haven, 
1831.  A  portrait  of  him,  by  Weir,  belongs  to  Yale  College.  His  mathe- 
matical reputation,  as  it  has  descended  to  two  generations  of  sons-in-law, 
is  well  sustained  by  Professors  Charles  Davies  and  William  K.  Peck,  of 
Columbia  College,  New  York.  Mr.  Mansfield  continued  Master  of  the 
School  until  April  22,  1790,  when  he  sent  in  his  resignation  in  the  words 
following : 

*'  Gentlemen :  Your  candor  and  generosity  in  appointing  me  to  the 
charge  of  the  Grammar-school,  without  any  solicitation  on  my  part,  de- 
mands my  warmest  acknowledgments,  and  will  ever  be  remembered  w  ith 
gratitude.  I  have  endeavored  to  execute  my  office  wdth  diligence  and 
fidelity,  and  should  still  be  happy  to  serve  the  Committee,  were  it  not 
for  brighter  prospects  from  abroad,  and  such  as  my  friends  think  ad- 
visable to  embrace.  I  shall  leave  my  friends  in  these  parts  with  regret, 
but  shall  ever  pray  for  their  happiness.  These  considerations  induce  me 
to  resign  the  charge  of  the  Grammar-school,  which  resignation  I  beg  the 
Committee  to  accept  at  the  expiration  of  the  present  Quarter,  viz,  on  the 
28th  inst.  "Yours,  &c., 

"Jared  Mansfield." 

The  Committee  accepted  Mr.  Mansfield's  resignation  "  with  a  grateful 
fiensc  of  his  good  services." 


61 

T790,  Abraham  Bishop,  Y.  C.  17*78.  For  many  years  Collector  of  the  Port  of 
New  Haven.  He  was  appointed  to  take  the  School  at  the  close  of  Mr. 
Mansfield's  term,  and  had  permission  to  keep  the  School  in  hiia  own  house. 
He  retained  it  for  five  months,  when  he  "  agreed  with  the  Committee  to 
resign,"  and  they  re-appointed — 

1790.  Jared  Mansfield,  who  remained  now  for  five  years,  and  probably  raised 
the  School  to  a  higher  reputation  than  it  had  afterwards  until  the  ac- 
cession of  Mr.  Olmstead.  He  taught  in  his  own  house  in  State  street, 
near  Chapel. 

1795.  Stephen  Twining,  Y.  C.  1795.  Steward  of  Yale  College  1819-1832. 
Died,  1832. 

1796.  John  Hart  Lynde,  Y.  C.  1796.  Lawyer  at  New  Haven,  and  Clerk  of  the 
Courts.     Died,  1817. 

The  Committee  "  made  choice  of  Sir  Hart  Lynde  to  keep  the  Grammar- 
school  for  the  stipend  of  £60 ^^er  annum;  and  said  Lynde  is  permitted  a 
poll-tax  of  half-a-dollar  per  quarter  for  each  grammar  scholar.  And  the 
Committee  agree  that  said  master  have  one  week  vacation  at  commence- 
ment, also  one  week  on  the  annual  election  in  May.  Said  master  is  not 
to  indulge  the  scholars  with  liberty  of  playing  on  Wednesdays  in  the 
afternoon." 

1797.  James  Murdock,  Y.  C.  1797.  D.  D.,  and  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical 
History  in  Andover  Theological  Seminary.  Translator  of  Mosheim's  Ec- 
clesiastical History,  and  of  the  Syriac  New  Testament,  into  English. 
Died,  1856. 

1779,  Eli  Ives,  Y.  C.  1799,  M.  D.,  and  Professor  in  the  Medical  Department  of 
Yale  College.     The  oldest  surviving  Teacher  of  the  School. 

1801.  Shubael  Bartlett,  Y.  C.  1800.  Minister  of  the  church  in  East  Windsor 
from  1804  until  his  death  in  1854. 

1802.  Jonathan  Huntington  Lyman,  Y.  C.  1802.  Lawyer  in  Northampton, 
Mass.     Died,  1825. 

1805.  Nathaniel  Freeman,  Y.  C.  1805.  Pastor  at  Greenfield  Hill,  Ct.  Died, 
1854. 

1807.  Henry  Sherman,  Y.  C.  1803.     Pastor  at  Weston,  Ct.     Died,  1817. 

1808.  Elizur  Goodrich,  Williams  College,  1806.     Lawyer  in  Hartford. 

1810.   Ebenezer  Kellogg,  Y.  C.  1810.    Professor  at  Williams  College.   Died,  1846. 

1810.  Chauncey  Allen  Goodrich,  Y.  C.  1810.  D.  D.,  Professor  in  Yale  Col- 
lege, editor  of  a  Greek  Grammar;  in  1832  of  Greek  Lessons;  in  1852  of 


62 

"Select  British  Eloquence."  In  1829  established  the  "  Quarterly  Christ- 
ian Spectator,"  and  was  its  sole  editor  till  about  1836.  Also,  an  impor- 
tant contributor  to  other  rehgious  periodicals.  Editor  of  Webster's  Dic- 
tionary.    Died,  1859. 

1812.  Elkazar  Thompson  Fitch,  Y.  C.  1810.  D.  D.,  Livingston  Trofessor  of  Divin- 
ity in  Yale  College  from  1811  till  his  resignation  in  1852.  His  private  in- 
structions in  Theology  constituted  the  germ  of  the  Yale  Theological  Semi- 
nary, with  which,  established  in  1822,  chiefly  by  the  efforts  of  Professor 
Goodrich  and  himself,  he  still  retains  his  highly  valued  connection. 

1812.  Edwin  Wells  Dwigiit,  Y.  C.  1809.  Clergyman  at  Richmond,  Mass. 
Died,  1841. 

1813.  Ward  Safford,  Y.  C.  1812.  Minister  in  New  York,  and  founder  of  City 
Missions  in  America.     Died,  1851. 

1813.  Elisha  Mitchell,  Y.  C.  1813.  D.  D.,  Professor  of  Natural  Sciences  in 
the  University  of  North  Carolina.  Perished  in  1857,  on  a  mountain  in 
that  State,  which  has  since  received  the  name  of  Mitchell's  Mountain. 

1814.  ,  Zedekiah  Smith  Barstow,  Y.  C.  1813.     D.  D.     Minister  at  Keene,  N.  H. 

Dr.  Burstow  had,  among  his  pupils,  many  who  have  since  risen  to  emi- 
nence. 

1815.  Randolph  Stone,  Y.  C.  1815.  Was  the  last  man  who  held  the  office  of 
butler  in  Yale  College.  Became  a  minister,  and  labored  on  the  Western 
Reserve,  in  Ohio.     Died,  1840. 

1813.  Ehenezer  Seeley,  Y.  C.  1814.  A  lawyer  at  New  Haven,  and  mayor  of 
the  city.     Removed  to  New  York,  his  present  residence. 

1816.  Zedekiaii  Smith  Barstow,  again,  for  one  c^uarter. 

181G.  RuFL-s  Woodward,  Y.  C.  1816.  Died,  1824.  [See  an  Elegy  by  Brainard, 
"  on  the  death  of  Mr.  Woodward  at  Edinburgh."] 

1816.  Joseph  Dresser  Wickham,  Y.  C.  1815.  Was  the  last  amanuensis  of 
President  Dwi^dit.  Afterwards  minister  in  Owego,  N.  Y.,  and  for  many 
years  has  I)cen  Principal  of  the  Burr  Seminary,  Manchester,  Vt. 

1817.  Oeorck  Hill,  Y.  C.  1816.  United  States  Consul  in  Asia  Minor.  [See 
Everest's  "  Poets  of  Connecticut."]     Appointed. 

1817.  AViLLiAM  Chafncey  Fowler,  Y.  C.  1816.  Professor  in  Middlebury  and 
Amherst  Colleges,  and  author  of  an  elaborate  treatise  on  English  Grara- 
nwir,  and  of  the  History  of  the  Chauncey  Family. 


63 

1818-20.  Hector  Humphreys,  Y.  C.  1818.  Professor  in  Trinity  College,  and 
President  of  St,  John's  College,  Maryland.     Died,  1857, 

1820-1.  Edward  Turner,  Y.  C.  1818.  Professor  in  Middlebury  College. 
Died,  1838. 

1821-3.    Stephen  D.  Ward,  New  Jersey  College,  1819.      Clergyman  in  Maine 
^__^M^  find  Massachusetts.     Died,  1858,  at  Agawam,  Mass. 

1823-5.    Henry  Herrick,  Y.  C.  1822.     Clergyman  at  Exeter,  Otsego  Co.,  N.  Y. 

1825.        Simeon  North,  Y.  C.  1825.  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  President  of  Hamilton  College. 

1825-6.  George  Nichols,  Y.  C  1824.  Teacher  in  Hadley  and  in  Springfield, 
Mass.     Died  in  Springfield,  1841. 

1826-9.    Robert  McEwen,  Y.  C.  1827.     D.  D.,  Clergyman  at  Enfield,  Mass. 

1829-31.  Asa  Drcry,  Y.  C.  1829.     Professor  in  Cincinnati  College,  Ohio. 

1831-3.   XoAH  Porter,  Y.  C.  1831.    D.  D.,  Professor  in  Yale  College. 

1833-4.  John  Owen  Colton,  Y.  C.  1832.  Pastor  of  the  Chapel  street  Church, 
New  Haven.     Compiler  of  Colton's  Greek  Reader.     Died,  1840. 

1834-5.  Samuel  W.  S.  Dutton,  Y.  C.  1833.  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  the  North 
Church,  New  Haven. 

1835-6.    Charles  Alonzo  Gager,  Y.  C.  1835.     Died,  1841,  in  Egypt. 

1836-7.  Nelson  Wheeler,  Y.  C.  1836.  Professor  in  Brown  University.  Died, 
1855. 

1837-8.   WiLLARD  Mason  Harding,  Y.  C  1837.     Minister  at  Princeton,  Mass. 

1838.  Robert  Hamilton  Paddock,  Y.  C.  1837.  M.  D.,  Professor  in  Starling 
Medical  College,  Ohio. 

1839.  Isaac  Jennings,  Y.  C.  1837.     Minister  at  Stamford. 

1840.  Hawley  Olmstead,  Y.  C.  1816.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Committee  of  the 
Hopkins  Grammar-School,  in  New  Haven,  July  28th,  1849,  the  following 
minute  was  adopted,  to  be  entered  on  their  Records : 

"  Mr.  Hawley  Olmstead,  Principal  of  this  School,  having  resigned 
his  place  in  the  same,  on  account  of  impaired  health, — the  Committee 
learn  with  regret  the  necessity  of  this  measure,  and  return  Mr.  Olmstead 
their  thanks  for  his  faithful  services,  since  for  more  than  ten  years  he 
has  managed  the  School  with  great  ability  and  success,  having,  by 
thorough  instruction  and  discreet  and  efficient  government,  raised   it 


from  a  very  depressed  state  to  one  of  great  prosperity  and  usefulness. 
The  Committee  would  express  their  sincere  hope  that  Mr.  Olmstead, 
when  released  from  his  confinement  and  severe  labors,  may  be  speedily 
restored  to  his  former  health,  and  be  enabled  to  resume,  in  some  form, 
those  efforts  in  the  cause  of  education  for  which  he  is  eminently 
qualified,  from  his  long  experience. 

''Voted,  that  a  copy  of  the  foregoing  be  presented  to  Mr.  Olmstead. 
"James  L.  Kingsley,  Secretary  pro  tem.''^ 

1849.        Edward  Olmstead,  Y.  C.  1845. 
1854.       RoBniNs  Little.     Y.  C.  1851. 
1854.       James  Morris  Wiiiton,  Y.  C.  1853. 


YIII. 

THE   HOPKINS   GRAJkOIAR   SCHOOLS   AT   HARTFOED   AND   HADLEY. 

Tl»e  earliest  clear  evidence  of  the  building  of  a  school  house  of  any  sort  at 
Hartford,  occurs  in  a  record  under  the  year  1665,  the  year  after  Hartford  "had 
gained"  £400  from  the  Hopkins  fund.  The  date  of  the  commencement  of  the 
Hopkins  School  must  be  set  down  at  1665 ;  but  no  name  of  any  teacher  appears 
on  record  until  1674,  when  Mr.  Caleb  "Watson,  (Harvard,  1661,)  undertook  the 
school  and  continued  to  teach  it  until  1705,  when  a  vote  was  passed  that  he  "be 
no  longer  school-master  to  this  town." 

For  the  first  century  of  its  existence  the  school  scarcely  rose  above  the  level  of 
a  primary  school  for  the  "children  and  servants"  of  the  town.  It  seems  to  have 
been  the  only  public  school  of  any  sort  in  Hartford,  during  that  period. 

A  vote  (which  seems  to  have  had  no  immediate  good  effect)  was  passed  by  the 
town  in  175^.5,  providing  that  the  incomes  "belonging  to  the  Free  School  (so 
called)  in  this  town,  shall  be  applied  to  the  use  and  support  of  a  Grammar  School 
to  be  kept  in  the  town  of  Hartford  for  the  future."  Mr.  Hooker,  in  his  manu- 
script history  of  the  school,  remarks :  "  It  sounds  very  oddly  that  an  institution 
which  for  full  two-thirds  of  a  century  had  been  on  the  foundation  of  a  fund  'for 
the  encouragement  of  hopeful  youth  both  at  the  Grammar  School  and  College,' 
t^iiould  be  chaiKjcd  by  a  vote  of  the  town  of  Hartford  into  a  '  Grammar  School.' 
The  vote,  on  its  very  face,  seems  to  be  a  confession  of  past  delinquency." 

"  In  1797,  the  town,  at  the  request  of  the  Committee,  appointed  Rev.  Nathan 
Perkins,  I).  D.,  and  Ephraim  Root,  Esq.,  agents  to  apply  for  a  charter  of  incor- 
poration. Such  a  charter  was  granted  in  1798,  empowering  the  Trustees  to  hold 
productive  funds  to  an  iunount  not  exceeding  ^20,000,  to  manage  them,  and  the 


> 


65 


school,  and  appoint  forever  their  own  successors.  Since  then,  the  fund  has  in- 
creased until  it  is  now  full  $16,000,  beside  the  School-house  and  the  lot  on  which 
it  stands,  and  the  apparatus  and  other  facilities  for  teaching ;  while  the  reputation 
of  the  school,  at  least  a  large  part  of  the  time,  for  thorough  classical  instruction, 
has  not  been  exceeded  by  that  of  any  school  in  the  country/'* 

The  endowment  of  the  IIadley  school  was  increased  in  the  first  years  of  its 
existence,  by  grants  of  land  from  leading  citizens;  and  the  school  thus  provided 
for  was,  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Goodwin,  to  be  called  The  Hopkins  School.  The 
Board  of  five  Trustees,  appointed,  in  conformity  with  an  agreement  between  Mr. 
Goodwin  and  the  town,  in  1669,  "continued  to  have  the  management  of  the 
property,  and  to  appropriate  its  annual  income  "to  the  purposes  intended  by  the 
testator"  until  1816,  when  the  committee,  in  concurrence  with  the  town  of  Had- 
ley,  petitioned  the  legislature  for  an  act  of  incorporation,"  which  was  accord- 
ingly passed. 

The  people  of  IIadley,  after  a  while,  complained  of  the  Trustees,  that  they  had 
"for  a  long  time  refused  to  administer  the  trust  according  to  the  directions  of 
the  donors  and  to  appropriate  the  annual  avails  of  the  property  to  and  for  the 
exclusive  use  and  benefit  of  the  plaintiffs,  and  had  appropriated  the  same  as  well 
to  the  use  and  benefit  of  others  as  of  the  plaintiffs,  and  sometimes  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  plaintiffs." 

The  case  thus  made  of  "Hadley  vs.  Hopkins  Academy,"  came  before  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts  in  1833,  and  was  the  subject  of  an  elaborate 
opinion  by  Chief  Justice  Shaw,  in  which  it  was  held,  that  the  devise  of  Governor 
Hopkins  "was  not  made  for  the  purpose  of  founding  a  common  town  school  for 
the  exclusive  benefit  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  town,  but  w^as  designed  for  the 
encouragement  of  all  persons  in  that  (then)  newly  settled  part  of  the  country, 
who  should  desire  to  avail  themselves  of  a  Grammar  School  adapted  to  instruct 
and  qualify  pupils  for  the  university." 

The  above  quotations  are  made  from  the  report  of  the  case  in  the  fourteenth 
volume  of  Pickering's  Reports,  p.  240. 

It  is  supposed  that  a  sketch  of  the  history  of  the  Hopkins  Grammar  School  of 
Hadley  exists  in  manuscript  among  the  papers  of  the  late  Sylvester  Judd,  Esq., 
of  Northampton,  Mass. 


*  From  a  manuscript  by  Rev.  Horace  Hooker  of  Hartford,  for  the  use  of  which  I  have  already 
acknowledged  my  obligation. 

5 


06 


IX. 
ARTICLES  OF  ASSOCIATION 

ADOPTED    BY   THE 

ALUMNI  OF  THE   HOPKINS  GRAMMAR-SCHOOL. 


ARTICLE    L 
This  Association  shall  be  known  by  the  name  of  the  Hopkins  Gramraar-School 

Association. 

ARTICLE    IL 

The  objects  of  this  Association  shall  be,  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the 
benevolent  Founder  of  the  School,  to  revive  and  preserve  its  histories  and 
traditions,  to  maintain  the  friendships  and  acquaintances  of  early  days,  and  to 
bear  onward  the  prosperity  of  the  Institution  by  any  proper  means. 

ARTICLE    IIL 

All  past  or  present  Officers  and  Teachers  of  the  School,  and  all  persons  aver 
sixteen  years  of  age,  who  have  been  scholars  in  the  School  for  one  year  or 
more,  but  whose  pupilage  in  the  School  has  ceased,  are  entitled  to  membership 
in  this  Association. 

ARTICLE    IV. 

Any  other  person  than  those  mentioned  in  the  preceding  Article,  may  be  made 
a  member  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  members  present  at  any  regular  meeting. 

ARTICLE    V. 

The  Officers  of  this  Association  shall  be  a  President,  Vice-President,  Secre- 
tary, Treasurer,  and  a  Standing  Committee  of  six  others,  all  of  whom  shall  be 
chosen  at  the  annual  meeting,  by  ballot. 

ARTICLE    VL 

The  meetings  of  this  Association  shall  be  held  regularly  o-nce  a  year,  during 
the  month  of  July,  (Commencement  Week,)  and  at  any  other  time  when  the 
President,  with  the  advice  of  the  Standing  Committee,  may  deem  it  necessary. 

ARTICLE    VII. 

The  President,  Secretary  and  Treasurer,  shall  be  resident  in  Now  Haven,  and 
Hhall  be  cx-officio  members  of  the  Standing  Committee. 

ARTICLE    VI I  L 

The  duties  of  the  Standing  Committee  shall  be,  to  advise  with  the  President 
upon  the  interests  of  the  Association,  and  to  carry  into  effect  the  resolutions  af 
the  Aaaociation,  except  when  specially  committed  to  other  officers. 


> 


67 


PRELIMINARY  MEETINGS 

OF  THE 

ALUMNI  OF  THE  HOPKINS  GRAMMAR-SCHOOL. 


FIRST  MEETING  OF  THE  ALUMNI  OF  THE  HOPKINS 
GRAMMAR-SCHOOL. 

A  meeting  of  the  graduates  of  the  New  Haven  Hopkins  Graramar-School 
having  been  called  by  public  notice,  convened  at  the  School-house,  on  "Wednes- 
day, the  28th  of  July,  1858,  at  2  o'clock  P.  M.,  twenty-six  being  present. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  the  Rev.  Chauncey  Goodrich,  who  moved 
that  the  Rev.  S.  ^Y.  S.  Button,  D.  D.,  take  the  chair.  The  motion  was  adopted, 
and  the  organization  completed  by  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Timothy  K.  Wilcox, 
secretary. 

The  object  of  the  meeting  being  called  for,  the  Rector  of  the  School,  Mr. 
Whiton,  made  a  statement,  that  the  Uth  of  June,  1660,  had  been  ascertained  to 
be  the  correct  date  of  the  foundation  of  the  School,  so  that  the  Two  Hundredth 
Anniversary  was  near  at  hand.  He  also  alluded  to  the  fact  that  this  School  is 
the  second  in  age  of  all  similar  institutions  in  the  country— the  Public  Latin 
School  of  Boston,  Mass.,  being  its  senior.  This  School,  which  organized  an 
Association  of  its  Alumni  in  1844,  has  a  Catalogue  dating  back  to  1635.  The 
speaker  concluded  by  moving  the  following  resolutions  : 

Eesolved,  That  it  is  expedient  that  an  Association  of  the  Alumni  of  the  Hopkins  Grammac- 
School  should  be  formed. 

Eesolved,  That  a  Committee  of  three  be  appointed  to  draft  Articles  of  Association,  to  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  Alumni  at  their  next  meeting,  and,  in  connection  with  the  Trustees  of  the  School,  to 
devise  the  most  appropriate  way  of  celebrating  our  Second  Centennial  Anniversary. 

Rev.  Edward  0.  Flagg,  of  New  York  City,  remarked  that  many  would  look 
back  on  this  School  as  their  alma  mater  as  well  as  alma  nutrix,  and  would  there- 
fore be  deeply  interested  in  such  an  organization,  which  he  hoped  would  become 
a  permanent  thing. 

Rev.  Chauncey  Goodrich  remarked  that  the  great  deficiency  of  the  past  has 
been  the  want  of  such  an  organization.  It  is  difficult  for  those  who  were  in  the 
School  thirty  years  ago  to  remember  those  who  were  then  scholars  with  them,  or 
even  their  teachers.  It  would  be  well  to  have  the  organization  for  the  sake  of 
having  some  permanent  records  of  the  School. 

Mr.  H.  C.  Kingsley  thought  that  the  approach  of  the  Second  Centennial  An- 
niversary was  of  itself  enough  to  warrant  the  formation  of  an  Association  of  the 
Alumni. 

Rev.  Dr.  Dutton  echoed  the  same  sentiments,  and,  in  speaking  of  the  unwritten 


68 


history  of  the  School,  gave  some  humorous  illustrations  of  the  store  of  old 
reminiscences  that  lives  in  the  memory  of  many  a  former  scholar. 

The  resolutions  which  had  been  moved  were  then  adopted  unanimously,  and 
the  Chair  appointed  Mr.  11.  C.  Kingsley,  Rev.  Chauncey  Goodrich,  and  Mr. 
James  M.  Whiton,  as  the  Committee. 

The  meeting  then  adjourned  to  call  of  the  Committee. 

TIMOTHY  K.  WILCOX,  Secretary. 


SECOND   MEETING  OF  THE  ALUMNI  OF  THE   HOPKINS 
GRAMMAR-SCHOOL. 

The  Alumni  of  the  Hopkins  Grammar-School,  to  the  number  of  thirty-five, 
met  at  the  call  of  the  Committee,  on  Tuesday,  the  26th  of  July,  1859,  at  two 
o'clock  P.  M.,  in  the  President's  Lecture  Room,  Yale  College. 

Rev.  Chauncey  Goodrich  called  the  meeting  to  order,  and  nominated  Prof.  B. 
Silliman,  Jr.,  as  Chairman,  which  nomination  w^as  accepted,  and  the  meeting  com- 
pleted its  organization  by  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Eli  W.  Blake,  Secretary. 

The  report  of  the  last  meeting  was  then  read  by  Mr.  T.  K.  "Wilcox,  its  Secre- 
tary, and  accepted. 

The  "Articles  of  Association  of  the  Alumni  of  the  Hopkins  Grammar- 
School  "  were  then  read  by  Mr.  James  M.  Whiton,  and  unanimously  adopted  by 
the  meeting.     These  Articles  are  as  follows  : 

Article  I.  This  Association  shall  be  known  by  the  name  of  the  Hopkins  Grammar-School 
Association. 

ARTrcLE  II.  The  objects  of  this  Association  shall  be,  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  benevo- 
lent Founder  of  the  School,  to  revive  and  preserve  its  histories  and  traditions ,  to  maintain  the 
frieiidslilps  and  acquaintances  of  early  days,  and  to  bear  onward  the  prosperity  of  the  Institution 
by  any  proper  means. 

AuTicLK  III.  All  past  or  present  Officers  and  Teachers  of  the  School,  and  all  persons  over 
tbcteen  years  of  age,  who  have  been  scholars  in  the  School  for  one  year  or  more,  but  whose  pupil- 
age in  the  School  has  ceased,  are  entitled  to  membershii)  in  this  Association. 

Article  IV.  Any  other  person  than  those  mentioned  in  the  preceding  Article,  may  be  made  a 
member  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  members  present  at  any  regular  meeting. 

Article  V.  The  Officers  of  this  Association  shall  be  a  President,  Vice-President,  Secretary, 
Treasurer,  and  a  Standing  Committee  of  sL\  others,  all  of  whom  shall  be  chosen  at  the  annual 
meeting,  by  ballot 

Article  VI.  The  mcetinp;s  of  this  Association  shall  be  held  regularly  once  a  year,  during  the 
month  of  ,  .and  at  any  other  time  when  the  President,  with  the  advice  of  the  Stand- 

ing Committee,  may  deem  it  necessary. 

Article  VII.  The  President,  Secretary  and  Treasurer,  shall  be  resident  in  New  Haven,  and 
Bhall  be  ex-offl.cio  members  of  the  Standing  Committee. 

Article  VIII.  The  duties  of  the  Standing  Committee  shall  be,  to  advise  with  the  President  upon 
the  Interests  of  the  Association,  and  to  carry  into  effect  the  resolutions  of  the  Association,  except 
when  •peclally  comuiilted  to  other  officers. 


> 


69 


These  Articles  having  been  accepted, 

On  motion,  Rev.  Chauncey  Goodrich,  Prof.  Timothy  Dwight,  and  Rev.  E.  O. 
Flagg,  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  report  nominations  for  the  officers  men- 
tioned therein.  During  their  consultation,  Mr.  J.  M.  Whiton  read  an  interesting 
essay  on  the  origin  and  early  history  of  the  School. 

The  Committee  reported  the  following  names : 

For  President : 
Prof.  A.  C.  TWINING. 

For  Vice-President: 
HAWLEY  OLMSTEAD,  Esq. 

For  Secretary : 
WILLIAM  L.  KINGSLEY. 

For  Treasurer: 
LUCIUS  AV.  FITCH. 

For  Executive  Committee : 
Rev.  DAVID  L.  OGDEN, 
HENRY  C.  KINGSLEY, 
Prof.  BENJAMIN  SILLIMAN,  Jr., 
JAMES  M.  W^HITON, 
Dr.  CHARLES  L.  IVES, 
Prof.  T.  F.  DAVIES. 

On  motion,  the  rule  requiring  election  by  ballot  was  laid  aside,  and  the  names 
offered  by  the  Committee  accepted  by  an  unanimous  vote. 

It  was  then  moved  and  accepted,  that  the  blank  in  Article  VI  of  the  Articles 
be  filled,  so  that  the  Article  may  read,  "  The  meetings  of  the  Association  shall  be 
held  regularly  once  a  year,  during  the  month  of  July,  (Commencement  Week,) 
and  at  any  other  time  when  the  President,  with  the  advice  of  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee, may  deem  it  necessary." 

.  Rev.  Chauncey  Goodrich  then  made  some  remarks  on  the  propriety  of  cele- 
brating the  coming  Two  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  School,  and  invited  sug- 
gestions as  to  the  proper  method. 

Prof.  Timothy  Dwight  moved  that  there  be  a  historical  discourse,  a  good 
dinner,  and  that  the  celebration  take  place  on  Tuesday  of  Commencement 
Week,  1860, — which  motion  was  carried, 

A  motion  was  then  made  by  Rev.  Chauncey  Goodrich,  that  the  appointment  of 
the  orator,  and  other  details  of  the  celebration,  be  left  with  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee.    Carried. 

Prof.  Timothy  Dwight  then  moved  that  the  Executive  Committee  be  instructed 
to  invite  and  urge  the  presence  and  co-operation  of  the  Hartford  Hopkins  Gram- 
mar-School, — which  was  unanimously  passed. 

Rev.  David  L.  Ogden  offered  his  resignation  from  the  Executive  Committee, — 
which  was  not  accepted. 

The  meeting  then  adjourned,  subject  to  the  call  of  the  Executive  Committee. 

E.  W.  BLAKE,  Jr.,  Secretary. 


7a 


THIRD  MEETING  OF  THE   HOPKINS  GRAMMAR  SCHOOL  ASSOCIA- 
TION, NEW  HAVEN,  July  24,  1860. 

On  Tuesday,  July  24th,  1860,  the  Association  of  the  Alumni  of  the  Hopkins 
Grammar-School  assembled,  by  invitation  of  the  Executive  Committee,  at 
the  College  street  Church,  and  listened  to  a  historical  address,  -which  was 
delivered  by  Rev.  Leonard  W.  Bacon,  of  Litchfield. 

After  the  address,  the  Association  was  called  to  order  by  the  President,  Prof. 
A.  C.  Twining,  and  a  resolution  was  offered,  to  the  effect,  that  the  thanks  of  the 
Alumni  of  the  Hopkins  Grammar-School  be  presented  to  the  orator,  Rev.  Leon- 
ard W.  Baoon.  The  resolution  was  passed  unanimously  ;  whereupon,  Rev.  S. 
W.  S.  Button,  B.  D.,  and  William  L.  Kingsley,  were  appointed  a  Commit- 
tee to  express  the  thanks  of  the  Association  to  Mr.  Bacon,  and  request  a 
<opy  of  the  discourse  for  publication. 

The  Association  then  adjourned  to  the  New  Haven  Hotel  for  dinner. 

WILLIAM  L.  KINGSLEY,  Secretary. 


XI. 


PRESENT   CONDITION    OF   THE    SCHOOL. 


The  Scliool  contains,  at  present,  upwards  of  forty  scholars,  all  pursuing  clas- 
sical studies.  The  course  of  instruction  is  completed  in  from  three  to  five  years, 
according  to  the  ability  of  the  scholars.  The  corps  of  instructors  consists  of 
the  rector,  two  assistants,  a  teacher  of  drawing  and  a  teacher  of  elocution.  The 
following  gentlemen  compose  the  Board  of  Trustees :  Hon.  Roger  S.  Baldwin, 
Henry  White,  Esq.,  Wyllys  Warner,  Esq.,  Rev.  Theodore  D.  Woolsey,  Eli  W. 
Blake,  Esq.,  Professor  Thomas  A.  Thacher,  Henry  C.  Kingsley,  Esq. 


CORRECTIONS. 
I^^  62,  line  4,  fr)r  1859  read  18G0. 
J'age  0:5,  add,  afUM-  llrie  7, 

1825.  WiM.iAM  RussKLL.    Editof,  Autlior,  and  Teacher,  Boston,  Maes. 

line  9,  for  1825-0  read  1825-Y. 

line  11,  for  1 820-9  read  1827-9. 


V  b      7  U 


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